BATTLE CREEK (WKZO-AM/FM) — A fisherman has found the vehicle that search crews spent the last week looking for in the Kalamazoo River.
The discovery was made in the area where the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers converge near Hamblin Avenue in Battle Creek. Apparently, its rear bumper and license plate rose above the surface as water levels in the river dropped.
According to a news release, divers were able to attach cables and the vehicle was hauled it to shore, but they did not find a body. The car was found near the location where a magnet had suggested it would be found, but divers couldn’t locate it when they dropped a camera in the water.
Police are confident that it was the rental driven by 31-year old Cortez Lewis of Detroit. Lewis has a girlfriend and children in Battle Creek, who reported him missing the day after a witness told police he saw the vehicle speed by him at a high rate of speed and plunge into the river at Dickman and Capital on March 4.
Lewis is 5-foot-9 and weighs 195 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.
The vehicle had lost its hood and its back window was blown out. It’s being processed by the Battle Creek Police Department crime lab.
