ABC News September 13, 2019

Google Earth search leads to gruesome ending to decades-old missing person's case

WATCH: Google Earth helps uncover man missing since 1997

A man using Google Earth to have a look around his old property ended up spotting something unusual -- sparking a chain of events that led to the remains of a person who disappeared two decades ago.

As he scanned a pond behind the home, the man spotted a lump that appeared to be a vehicle and reached out to the property's current resident, who then used a drone to scan the Grand Isles, Florida, property.

That resident then contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which confirmed it was a vehicle, it said in a statement.

(MORE: DNA identifies suspect in 11-year-old's sexual assault, strangulation from 1972)

The sheriff's office removed the vehicle from the pond, which they say was "heavily calcified" and had been in the water "for a significant amount of time."

Google Maps

"Upon removing the vehicle skeleton remains were found inside," the sheriff's office said.

(MORE: DNA identifies suspect in 11-year-old's sexual assault, strangulation from 1972)

On Tuesday, authorities identified the remains as that of William Moldt, who was reported missing on Nov. 8, 1997, after leaving a nightclub, authorities said.

Moldt left the club alone, and did not appear intoxicated, according to the Associated Press. He called his girlfriend to say he was leaving the nightclub and was not heard from again, the AP reported.

National Missing & Unidentified Persons System via AP
This undated photo provided by the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System shows William Moldt, who went missing in 1997.