The mystery over the disappearance of an 84-year-old St. Clair County woman may have come to an end with the discovery of a vehicle containing a body from the St. Clair River on Saturday.
Nadine Moses was last seen the morning of May 4 leaving her Casco Township home, which is east of Richmond and Lenox Township in Macomb County. She had $50 in cash and a full tank of gas in her vehicle, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
Her 2011 Ford Edge was located Saturday afternoon about 30 feet off the shore of St. Clair Aggregates, located on South Belle River Avenue. A body was found inside the SUV but has not been positively identified.
“Detectives from our office are continuing the investigation,” St. Clair County Sheriff Mat King said in a news release. “We will be working hand in hand with the St. Clair County Medical Examiner’s Office to identify the body and hopefully bring closure to a grieving family.”
Members of Nadine Moses’ family were at the scene when the SUV was pulled from the water, including her son Todd Moses, the former choir director at Dakota High School in Macomb Township and now the director of choral activities at Macomb Community College.
A Oregon-based volunteer diving group, called Adventures With a Purpose (AWP), used advanced sonar
technology to locate the vehicle.
The Moses family had reached out to the group, which states they have located 12 missing persons over the past year.
It wasn’t clear how long the AWP team had searched the St. Clair River, but once the vehicle was located, the group contacted the Sheriff’s Office. AWP members said visibility in that section of the river was less than 6 inches.
AWP said it began the search on the south side of Marine City at the public boat ramp. They used two sonar boats and spotted a target matching the length of the missing vehicle. They attached a magnet to verify that it was metal.
An AWP member 20 feet underwater, about 40 feet from shore, and verified that the vehicle and plate matched Nadine’s missing car.
A Sheriff’s Office dive team responded to the scene and attached cables from a Preferred Towing truck to the Ford Edge.
Once the vehicle was on shore, investigators located the body.
“We are humbled by the opportunity all of you have given us to help in the search for answers as to what happened to Nadine,” AWP said Saturday night in a social media post.
Deputy Steve Campau said investigators have not been able to determine whether there any signs of foul play involved. The department had been investigating on the assumption Mrs. Moses became disoriented or suffered a medical condition that caused the SUV to enter the water.
“We can’t say much further at this point, because we don’t know for sure,” he said Saturday night.
Following word of her being missing, the Sheriff’s Office and other agencies conducted an exhaustive search to locate the woman. Several law enforcement agencies were involved in land, water and aerial searches in the months that followed.
Investigators said cellphone data they collected indicated she may have been driving from about 2:15 a.m. May 4 until about 9:15 a.m. that same day in the general areas of Ira, Casco, Cottrellville, China and East China townships and Marine City.
By checking surveillance cameras, authorities believe her vehicle was observed on two cameras in the early morning hours of May 4. The vehicle was northbound on M-29, passing the Marine City Police Department. The SUV then turned east on Fairbanks Street. It is unknown where the vehicle headed after that.
On Saturday, the Marine City Police Department, Michigan State Police, Marine City Fire Department and Tri-
Hospital EMS assisted in the recovery.
