Texas Equusearch Says Cars Have Bodies

City of Houston Says They Won't Pay To Find Out

Houston, Texas - If the headline and byline seem ridiculous, the actions of Houston leaders appear outrageous.  After extensive searching, a private, non-profit, search organization says there are at least 130 cars in Houston Bayous and some of those cars may contain the bodies of missing persons.

Texas Equusearch has formed a public-private partnership with many law enforcement agencies. The organization uses high technology to find missing persons the cops are unable to find.  The organization worked on the Natalie Holloway search effort and has solved multiple high profile missing persons cases.

One of the techniques Equusearch uses is sonar which can identify sunken objects in murky water much faster than divers can through a physical search.  Unfortunately, perhaps, Texas Equusearch has been so successful at finding sunken vehicles in Houston Bayous, the City says it could not possibly afford to pull the vehicles from the mire.

Tim Miller, Texas Equusearch founder, wants Houston to use it's resources to recover suspicious sunken vehicles just like other cities use their resources to clear abandoned vehicles.  Miller and high ranking volunteers at Texas Equusearch are not afraid of controversy.

Last year, Miller waged a battle against the FAA after it imposed over-broad sanctions in the use of drones to search for missing people. Despite Texas Equusearch being a non-profit organization, the FAA decided the use of drones to search for people was a commercial venture.  Perhaps the FAA could use a page from the President Obama playbook in using prosecutorial discretion in the cases it asserts against non-profit organizations doing the job of government.

In a surprisingly arrogant response to news inquiries about why Houston is not interested in pulling discovered vehicles out of the murky depths, Houston police officer Victor Senties claims the department already knew about many of the vehicles.  A few years ago, Houston P.D. even searched a few of the wrecks.  But beyond that, Houston shows no interest in yanking vehicles from bayous.  They say it simply costs too much money.

Of course, the families of missing persons don't agree.  What is a police force supposed to do, if they can't be instrumental in the search for missing persons?  Little buffers community morale more than a police department which solves crimes.  To most families, there is no price too high to put an end to the suffering they face in not knowing what happened to a family member, spouse or child.  Tim Miller, supported by city council member Michael Kubosh, says some of those answers lie in the sunken remains of over 130 vehicles.

Meanwhile, in 2006, before red light cameras were installed on selected Houston intersections, the constabulary planned to spend the anticipated $6 million in fines on higher salaries for Houston officers. Texas ranks number 5 in the nation for handing out traffic citations.  While reporting a missing person is easy in Houston, finding the person is another part of police work altogether.  Houston is at risk of being more interested in fining red-light violators than it is in finding missing persons.