Mom who vanished outside bowling alley is found dead in sunken car, Florida cops say

A mother was found dead inside a submerged car days after her son reported her missing, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.

Members of the sheriff’s office dive team recovered a vehicle from a retention pond in Palm Coast on April 24, according to a post on the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page and the Florida Highway Patrol. A woman’s body was inside the car.

Medical examiners identified the woman as Erica Bergeron, 49, who had been reported missing by her son days earlier, according to the sheriff’s office.

Bergeron had been last seen outside a bowling alley in Palm Coast on April 20, First Coast News and The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. She was driving a rental car, the sheriff’s office told McClatchy News.

The sheriff’s office did not release her cause of death.

The car Bergeron was driving had veered off a roadway for “unknown” reasons before striking a tree and crashing into the retention pond nearby, according to a report from Florida Highway Patrol.

An obituary for Bergeron could not be found online.

Palm Coast is about 60 miles southeast of Jacksonville.

This story was originally published April 26, 2023 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Mom who vanished outside bowling alley is found dead in sunken car, Florida cops say."