Family says human remains found in pond near Disney World are those of Orlando woman missing 12 years

By Marlei Martinez

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    ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — For over a decade, Timothy Lemire Jr. has been living in limbo not knowing what happened to his mother Sandra Lemire, who suddenly disappeared in May 2012.

“He went through hell over this,” said his father Timothy Lemire.

Sandra Lemire went missing after going on a date with a man she met online. She was living at her grandmother Pauline Varner’s Orlando home at the time and drove her red minivan.

“I haven’t heard from her since and of course, that scared me,” Varner told WESH 2 News in 2012.

For the next 12 years, the case went cold. Until last month.

“Of all the cases we were working, this was the case I was least optimistic about,” said Mike Sullivan.

Sullivan and his volunteer dive group Sunshine State Sonar have been searching for Lemire for the past year and a half.

“You know what cracked it?” said Sullivan. “It was two weeks ago. The detectives from Orlando Police gave us some new information that we could use. And they gave us the location of her last cell phone tower.”

With that new information, Sullivan’s team put together a map of possible locations.

On Saturday, they ended up at a retention pond along State Road 417 and I-4 near Disney and World Drive. That is where they spotted a red minivan.

“I was hyperventilating. I was stressed out. I put all my dive gear on, my wetsuit and I just dove in that water,” Sullivan said. “I had to get that confirmation for us. We had to know.”

Sullivan dove straight toward the license plate for confirmation.

“When the silt cleared, I can start seeing the numbers: “J.” And as soon as I saw the “J” and the “3,” I’m like: ‘We have her,’” he said.

Sullivan immediately video-called Timothy Lemire Jr. and showed him their discovery.

“What he did was amazing. And without him and his team, none of this would have been possible,” said Timothy Lemire Jr. “They didn’t ask for a dollar. That’s just the kindness of their heart.”

Sunshine State Sonar took on Lemire’s case pro bono and searched 63 bodies of water to find Lemire.

“Deep in my heart. I always thought this was a foul play case. And it turned out to be just a bad, terrible car accident,” Sullivan said. “I’m just so proud of our team.”

On Monday, Timothy Lemire Jr. and his dad who is Sandra’s ex-husband said they are still processing this discovery.

“It’s a lot of mixed emotions,” Timothy Lemire Jr. said. “I’m happy she wasn’t murdered or kidnapped or anything like that because we’ve been thinking that for years.”

They never got to have a funeral for her. Now, they said they have closure thanks to Sullivan and his team.

“There’s this one video where you can see the van on the tow truck and the truck pulling off. And he said, ‘Timothy, we’re finally bringing your mother home,’” Timothy Lemire Jr. said. “And that destroyed me when he said that. After all these years.”

On Sunday, the Orlando Police Department, Florida Highway Patrol, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Osceola County Sheriff’s Office all responded to the scene to assist in recovering the vehicle.

FHP is handling the crash investigation. They tell WESH 2 News they are waiting on the Medical Examiner’s Office to identify the remains.

WESH 2 News also checked in with Orlando Police and they released this statement:

“We can confirm that the red vehicle located in the water on World Drive is tied to the missing person case of Sandra Lemire. We are waiting on positive identification of the human remains that were located in the vehicle. FDLE is working on that. Detectives have been in contact with the family. Once we get new updates, we will provide that to you.”

Sunshine State Sonar is a nonprofit based out of St. Petersburg that launched in January 2022. Sullivan said provide their services free to law enforcement and families. Since they launched, he said they have located the remains of seven missing people.

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