A truck connected to the 2008 disappearance of a 91-year-old Owensboro man was located Thursday in the Green River near Spottsville, according to Henderson County Sheriff Chip Stauffer.
Stauffer said Henderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched around noon after receiving information from Daviess County dispatch that a hobbyist diver had located a 2002 Ford Ranger believed to be connected to the missing person case of Charles Haywood, who was 91 when he went missing from the Owensboro area in July 2008.
The truck was located near the boat ramp in Spotsville at the Green River lock, Stauffer said.
Stauffer said the diver, Trey Lombardo, was able to retrieve the license plate from the vehicle and confirm it matched the truck associated with Haywood’s disappearance.
“When we arrived, we confirmed that [the diver] did, in fact, have the license plate from the vehicle,” Stauffer said. “He had buoyed it, and we’re currently in the process of having it rigged up to be able to recover.”
The Ohio Township Fire Department dive team from Indiana was assisting Thursday afternoon with recovery efforts.
Stauffer said the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office had not directly contacted Haywood’s family as of Thursday afternoon, though the Owensboro Police Department was on scene and aware of the recovery efforts.
Stauffer said it would be a joint investigation with OPD moving forward, but that Owensboro would take the lead on deciding where the vehicle is taken once it’s recovered.
Owensboro Times has reached out to OPD for comment.
