Body found in submerged car of Florida teacher missing 3 years

Body found in submerged car of Florida teacher missing 3 years

An unidentified body was found Saturday evening in the car of a Port Orange, Florida teacher who was last seen in October 2020, said the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department.

The body was discovered hours after Robert Heikka’s car was spotted submerged in a canal along Pioneer Trail, in the New Smyrna Beach area.

“While positive ID has not officially been made, the Port Orange Police Department has been in contact with Mr. Heikka’s family,” read a social media post by the Sheriff’s Office. “Our thoughts go out to the Heikka family and friends this evening.”

This is the latest update in a case that’s gone cold ever since Heikka, a teacher at Creekside Middle School, did not show up for work on Oct. 26, 2020, said a spokesperson for the Port Orange Police Department at a press conference in December of 2020.

Heikka, who was 70 when he was last seen, worked in the Volusia County School District since 1989. He began teaching at Creekside Middle School in Port Orange in 2002.

Port Orange Police first got reports from his colleagues, who said it “was out of character” for Heikka to suddenly leave without saying anything, Detective Sgt. Steven Nagy said at the same press conference.

Nothing was missing from his home, he added.

The last place Heikka could be placed by investigators, Nagy said, was in the Cape Canaveral shores area on the evening of Oct. 24. He was spotted on a bank surveillance video, according to Nagy, who described it as an “average transaction.”

The Port Orange Police Department have been assisted in its investigation by the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and multiple sheriff’s offices, including Volusia and Orange counties.

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