The body of a motorist who drove off the edge of a pier has been recovered after nearly a week in the water, but police are yet to reveal details about who the person is or what drove him to his death.
Horrifying footage emerged last week showing the car crashing through the barriers at the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier and plunging over the edge on Saturday morning.
Crews have now finally managed to get the vehicle and its occupant out of the water, following a rescue mission earlier this morning after five days of strong winds made the recovery too dangerous.
It remains unconfirmed whether the driver is male or female, or whether police have any indication as to why they drove off the pier.
The vehicle was a red Nissan Kicks SUV, which had no license plates, police said. After being rescued from the depths, it was quickly covered with a tarpaulin.
We finally managed to get the vehicle and its occupant out of the water
The vehicle was a red Nissan Kicks SUV, which had no license plates, police said. After being rescued from the depths, it was quickly covered with a tarpaulin
On-site video taken by WAVY shows the vehicle being pulled out of the water by a barge.
Police had been trying to recover the vehicle for several days, but weather halted progress.
A crane barge lifted the SUV out of the water and onto the ship, where workers covered it with a tarp.
Police said they have been contacted by a family who have a missing male relative, with the case showing “similar facts and circumstances.”
In a statement about the rescue, Virginia Beach police said: “We are pleased to report that the vehicle recovery phase of this investigation has been successfully completed with all responders involved safe and unharmed.
‘At this time we can confirm that one deceased occupant has been recovered, along with a red Nissan Kicks. The vehicle does not have a license plate.
“Once removed from the vehicle, medical examiner pathologists will be tasked with identifying the occupant. When official identification is issued, we will inform the resident’s relatives.’
Sonar images released on Monday showed the wreckage and eerie images from the ROV were released by police but showed very little of the car.
The red Nissan appeared to brake for the end before driving over the edge of the pier
The pier is 200 meters long and the water at the end is about 4.5 meters deep. The water temperature is in the mid 40s
The water was too murky and the sea too rough to make out any distinguishing features of the vehicle, such as its license plate number or who might have been inside.
Footage of the car driving on the pier showed a pedestrian walking along a sidewalk as the SUV screamed past, first crossing a bike path and then walking onto the pier’s wooden boardwalk.
The vehicle braked briefly before ramming through the wooden railing at the end of the pier and plunging straight over the edge into the sea.
A woman standing on the beach captured the incident on camera when she heard a loud crash and started filming.
The Virginia Beach Fire Department arrived on the scene within four minutes and sent a diver into the water to search and rescue everyone in the car.
The vehicle braked briefly before ramming through the wooden railing at the end of the pier and plunging straight over the edge into the sea.
Some of the damaged barriers are on the ground at the pier entrance
When the police arrived on the scene, the divers had already been removed from the water.
Witnesses said the car drove onto the boardwalk from Atlantic Avenue at a high rate of speed and crashed through the first barriers on the pier.
One of the women who caught the incident on camera, Kaylynn Crawford, tells WAVY: “We saw at first that it happened very quickly. We thought we would just go for it.
“But towards the end the car started to slow down, and it looked like it was almost staggering at the end. Then suddenly it fell over the pier.’
Charlotte Murphy, who works at a seafood restaurant on the pier, told the outlet: ‘They went through three gates, which is pretty crazy and these are really, really strong gates. It’s really crazy to think about.
“As soon as I got here, I was like, ‘Holy cow, that’s the craziest thing I’ve heard in a long, long time.’