OHP Dive Team recovers stolen car from Lake Sahoma

Osage Skynews 6 flew over Lake Sahoma Tuesday as the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Dive Team pulled a car out of the water.

It turns out the 2014 Chevy Camaro was stolen from Tulsa three years ago. Not only was the car stolen, but it was stripped of its engine and transmission.

Who found the car?

Sapulpa Police say a man was fishing at Lake Sahoma earlier this month when he spotted the car on his sonar and called police. Police then called in OHP's dive team.

"We don't know what that vehicle is, what it has been involved with. Maybe it was involved in some sort of a crime, so we need to recover that to get that important information," said Captain Mike Sole with Sapulpa Police.

In this case, the car was reported stolen from Tulsa in 2022, and the engine and transmission were gone.

"It would appear somebody stole the vehicle for the expensive and important parts. Kept that, then disposed of the vehicle," said Sole.

OHP's Dive Team Works Across the State:

Most police departments and sheriff's offices don't have the resources for their own dive teams, so they call OHP. OHP has several teams across the state, and they stay busy year-round.

"There's hundreds across the state that still need to be recovered. This one was unique in that a fisherman on July 4th ran his boat out, saw it on his sonar and called Sapulpa PD. Any time it's a navigational hazard or a hazard for other boaters, then we try to get on it pretty quick," said Trooper Ryan Long with OHP's Dive Team.

OHP's dive team is an underwater search and recovery team, not a rescue team, and they train in scenarios just like this to recover vehicles from lakes.

"When we get called, it generally is a recovery type of situation, whether that be a drowning, missing person, that had something to do with the water. We have the ability to do underwater criminal investigations, which is very specific to the underwater realm," said Long.

Sapulpa police are now working with Tulsa Police to investigate the stolen car and see where it came from and who stole it.