Cadaver dogs indicate there might be human remains in buried car in Atherton

Read the latest on this developing story at AlmanacNews.com

At a press conference Friday, Atherton police say that for a second day in a row, cadaver dogs have indicated the possible existence of human remains in a car discovered buried on the property of a home on Stockbridge Avenue.

Police are trying to get to the bottom of why a car was buried there and said that efforts to fully unearth the vehicle were ongoing.

Police received a call Thursday, at around 8:50 a.m. when landscapers discovered the buried car at a home on the 300 block of Stockbridge Avenue in the West of Alameda neighborhood, according to an Atherton Police Department press release. It was publicly identified Friday as a Mercedes-Benz convertible with its top down.

Police say the car was reported missing to the Palo Alto Police Department in September 1992. The possible owner of the vehicle is believed to be dead, but Atherton police are waiting for DMV records to be retrieved from its archives to get confirmation.

An Atherton Police Department car leaving the home shortly before 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20. Work on the excavation of a car found on the property is ongoing.

Cadaver dogs were called to the scene and gave a signal that there may be human remains in the car but as of Friday afternoon, police said no human remains have been located. The San Mateo Crime Lab technicians are helping excavate the vehicle, Atherton police said, and the excavation is set to continue over the weekend.

Police believe the vehicle was possibly buried sometime in the ’90s, based on the stolen vehicle report, and is approximately 4 to 5 feet underground. There were unused bags of concrete found throughout the vehicle, including in the trunk, police said. On Friday, police Cmdr. Dan Larsen that the convertible’s trunk space was largely occupied by the retracted roof.

The car was buried prior to the current owners taking possession, Larsen said.

The home was built in 1990 on a 1.63-acre lot, records show, and was sold in 2014 for $7.4 million and again in 2020 for $15 million. This news organization is not publishing the exact address to protect the owner’s privacy.

When asked if during a Friday press conference if a previous homeowner is the owner of the car who is dead, police declined to comment. Larsen said police are withholding information on the owner of the car because they don’t know if this a criminal investigation at this point.

The town issued a permit for a landscape screening — plantings, shrubbery, bushes or other foliage intended to act as a privacy screen — on the property in September, according to public records.

Excavation work stopped around 10 p.m. on Thursday and resumed at 8 a.m. on Friday. The majority of the passenger compartment of the vehicle has been excavated, according to police. Around 11 a.m. a cadaver dog was brought back to the scene and again made a slight notification of possible human remains.

Larsen explained that a slight notification means there could be decadesold human remains, bones or even blood or vomit. Landscapers have been working on-site recently, so it could be that a worker got cut and bled near the site, he said.

An NBC Bay Area news helicopter got footage of the dig on Thursday.

Police expect the excavation to go into the weekend, with the next update on Monday, barring any major breaking news, Larsen said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Landscapers found a car buried in the yard of a home on Stockbridge Avenue in Atherton on Oct. 20, 2022. Map by Angela Swartz.