Secrets of Silicon Valley’s underground Mercedes
California cops are investigating why a person or person unknown buried a Mercedes stuffed full of unused bags of cement in the yard of a US$ 15 million (570 million baht) home in the 1990s. The car was discovered Thursday morning by gardeners in the affluent town of Atherton about 30 miles south of San Francisco, with unused bags of concrete inside.
Some serious intrigue began when landscapers working at a property in Atherton unearthed a car buried four to five feet deep under the yard. The home used to belong to a notorious character with murder, attempted murder, and insurance fraud on his rap sheet.
A team from Atherton Police Department and San Mateo County crime lab excavated the vehicle. Bags of concrete had been placed everywhere in the car.
Atherton police commander Daniel Larsen said…
“The cadaver dogs made a slight notification of possible human remains. The San Mateo crime lab was contacted and sent technicians to assist with excavating the vehicle. Excavation is ongoing and at this time, no human remains have been located.”
Police believe the car was buried in the 1990s though Larsen would not say what led detectives to that conclusion.
According to an NBC Bay Area anchor, Gia Bang, police said the car was a Mercedes.
The sprawling property includes a 1,100-square-metre home, purchased by the current owners in 2020. The home, built in 1990, was listed for rent in 2013 and 2014.
The former owner of the house, Johnny Bocktune Lew, was convicted of killing his girlfriend in his apartment in 1966. Lew maintained she had accidentally shot herself with his gun — and though he was convicted, the case was overturned in 1968. He was also charged with insurance fraud in 1999, paying two undercover cops to sink a US$1.2 million yacht in San Francisco Bay.
Lew’s daughter said her father died of lung cancer in 2015. Regarding the buried car, she added …
“This wouldn’t surprise me, just based on how sketchy my father was.”
Larsen said police believed the car was buried before the current homeowners bought the property, and that they were not under investigation. He said…
“The majority of the top of the vehicle has been uncovered but the interior of the vehicle was also filled with dirt. They’re kind of working their way through that but because of the unknown nature of it they have to go through it slowly and methodically.”
The discovery has baffled residents.
Athena Ogawa told NBC Bay Area…
“It’s a mystery in my own neighbourhood.”
Another resident, Peter Sun, said…
“It’s kind of strange. But usually, it’s pretty safe and it’s like everyone is kind of doing their own thing.”
