Many questions remain unanswered after a buried car was removed from a home in Atherton. Thom Jensen reports.
A car that was discovered buried in the backyard of an Atherton estate was removed from the home Saturday.
Sources told NBC Bay Area that police managed to fully excavate the Mercedes Benz convertible earlier Saturday and it was taken to a crime lab, where it's being scoured for evidence.
NBC Bay Area's SkyRanger flew over the home Saturday evening, where the buried car was long gone and a big hole was all that was left.
Johnny Bocktune Lew, the former owner of the estate, is believed to have buried the car about 30 years ago after he reported it stolen in 1992.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
Lew died in 2015 at the age of 77.
Police said they still don't know why it was buried.
Authorities said that the cadaver dogs had mild hits when they sniffed the scene, indicating they might have smelled human remains. Police said they have not found any human remains so far.
Officials said the car was buried about 4 to 5 feet underground.
Police said the current homeowners had no idea the car was buried there.
As of Saturday night, neighbors continue to make daily trips by the property, hoping to learn something new about the intriguing and still unfolding story.
Atherton resident Don Traeger told NBC Bay Area that he only spoke to Lew in passing.
“I ran into him a few times. You know, you had no idea,” he said.
Like most people, Traeger wonders why Lew would report his car stolen, fill it with several bags of cement and bury it in the backyard.
“I think it’s crazy. How could you have a place like this? Property values so high, and you’re scamming like, I don't know, $8,000 car. It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Traeger added that he had no idea Lew once told investigators he was involved in organized crime or that he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in the 1960s.
Lew was also convicted of attempted murder of another person in 1977 and had numerous other run-ins with the law including insurance fraud in the 1990s, involving a plot to sink his yacht by the Golden Gate Bridge and collect the insurance money.
Longtime neighbors, who have been walking and driving by the home want to know what the car was doing there.
“This is so strange, so strange,” said Atherton resident Gurkirpal Singh.
Atherton police officials said they won’t have any more updates until Monday at the earliest.
