- February 23, 2026
Natasha Harper, daughter of missing person Mary Lou Combs. Photo by Sierra Williams
Natasha Harper, Mary Lou Combs' daughter, is consoled by Vern Shurtz and Ken Fleming, owners of the private recovery search companies who initially found Combs' car. Photo by Sierra Williams
Sheriff Rick Staly announces the FCSO has found the remains who they believe to be Mary Lou Combs, a 22-year missing person. Photo by Sierra Williams
A bumper pulled from the Intracoastal matching that of Mary Lou Combs' car. Courtesy of the FCSO
Sonar imagery of Combs' car in the Intracoastal Waterway. Courtesy of the FCSO
Mary Lou Combs went missing in 2003. Courtesy of the FCSO
The Intracoastal Waterway where Mary Lou Combs' car was found. Courtesy of the FCSO
Evidence found in the car indicating it belonged to Mary Lou Combs. Courtesy of the FCSO
Evidence found in the car indicating it belonged to Mary Lou Combs. Courtesy of the FCSO
Mary Lou Combs (left) went missing in 2003. Courtesy of the FCSO
FIB personnel sift through evidence recovered from the car. Courtesy of the FCSO
Sheriff Rick Staly with members of the FBI who helped recover the vehicle. Courtesy of the FCSO
Evidence found in the car indicating it belonged to Mary Lou Combs. Courtesy of the FCSO
The Intracoastal Waterway where Mary Lou Combs' car was found. Courtesy of the FCSO
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has found what they believe to be the remains of Mary Lou Combs, a 41-year-old Flagler County woman who has been missing for 22 years.
Through a partnership with private, volunteer dive search and recovery companies, human remains believed to be Combs were found in a submerged and upside-down vehicle in the Intracoastal Waterway in The Hammock. The car was found just 40 feet from the east shore near 66 and 68 Hernandez Avenue, in 14-17 feet of water.
Combs was last seen in August 2003 after she left her home in The Hammock in her red 1996 Plymouth Neon Coupe. Though the remains and the vehicle found were severely degraded after 22 years in salt water, FCSO Sheriff Rick Staly said one of the items recovered from the car included Combs’ Florida driver’s license "in pristine condition."
Additionally, investigators found a leg bone with metal plates attached, similar to those Combs would have from a previous crushed ankle injury.
“All evidence strongly suggests the remains are those of Mary Lou Combs, but final determination is pending DNA testing,” Staly said. “However prolonged exposure to salt water may have limited the ability for DNA comparison.”
The DNA analysis is still pending, but, Staly said, they do not know how long it will take to get the results through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The FCSO worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to recover the remains, car and evidence from the Intracoastal on Feb. 3, unintentionally coinciding with National Missing Persons day. Staly, alongside Combs’ family, members of the FBI team, the FCSO Cold Case Unit and dive search and recovery companies Recon Dive & Recovery and Helo & Sub, announced the discovery at a Feb. 23 press conference.
Combs’ daughter Natasha Harper, who was 13 when her mother disappeared, said thanked the FCSO and the private dive teams who worked “countless hours” to find her mother.
“When I was a little girl, my mother was my best friend and my everything,” Harper said. “When she went missing, our world changed so much. And it has not been the same since.”
Staly said they believe Combs accidentally drove a boat ramp at the end of 18th Road into the Intracoastal Waterway, where her vehicle submerged and drifted north with the current, before capsizing and sinking.
“We’re forever grateful that we can finally say goodbye,” Harper said.
Eighteenth Road is a dirt road that used to be a boat ramp and goes directly into the water, he said. Going back 23 years, Staly said, the community was still “fairly rural” and sparsely populated.
“While this is not the outcome anyone hoped for, we knew locating Mary alive was extremely unlikely given the length of time she had been missing,” Staly said.
The investigation remains open at this time, Staly said, as they still have some unanswered questions.
“Questions that, frankly, we may never know the answer to,” he said.
Combs’ car was found buried under 22 years of sludge and muck — just over four-tenths of a mile from Combs’ home on Sanchez Avenue — by the private dive search and recovery companies Recon Dive & Recovery and Helo & Sub, which designed the sonar technology used to find the car.
The companies volunteered to begin looking for Combs’ Neon Coupe in local waterways in 2024.
“We made it our mission to locate the missing underwater,” Recon Dive & Recovery owner Ken Fleming said.
Fleming said they began by targeting the 300 ponds in the area Combs was last seen, ruling out ones that were not built 22 years ago.
After over a year searching the ponds, Fleming said they turned their direction to the Intracoastal in late 2025. That October, they initially found what looked like “a little pile of rubble,” and it wasn’t until they turned back for a closer look that the search team could tell it might be a vehicle.
“Unfortunately, it was buried up to the rocker panels, upside down. We could not be 100% sure it was a vehicle,” Fleming said. Instead, he said, they tried to get a magnet on it. “The metal was so deteriorated that it would not stick.”
Fleming said they had to dive in poor visibility to determine if the site was a car or not. Fleming said recovered the bumper, which is a “make, model, and year match” to Combs’ car. Crime scene investigators later matched a color swatch to Combs’ car as well.
Helo & Sub owner Vern Shurtz said when they begin a search they like to start with getting to know the missing person. It helps drive their search.
“There are almost a thousand cases across the United States that are very similar to Mary Lou’s case,” Shurtz said.
After the private dive teams located what they believed to be Combs’ vehicle, the FCSO began organizing a joint recovery operation with the FBI. Staly said because of the car’s position and its long exposure to salt water, it was in fragile condition.
The FBI provided 30 people to aid in the recovery efforts, including a forensic anthropologist.
“That’s the kind of resources we were given,” Staly said.
The FBI was able to dredge the submerged car, suctioning up all materials inside and placing them in a sluice basket on shore to be searched for evidence.
Among the evidence recovered were car parts matching Combs’ Neon Coupe, shoes consistent with Combs’ shoe size, children’s toys, Combs’ driver’s license and human remains.
The Flagler County medical examiner is examining the remains to determine a cause of death.
“We have nothing at this time to say it is anything more than an accident, but until the M.E. finishes their job, we can't rule anything out,” Staly said. “But I will tell you that It really does appear [to be] a tragic accident.”
Staly said that this is not the first time the FCSO has partnered with a private company for an investigation but it is the first time the FCSO has worked with a private dive recovery team.
“We will use whatever it takes, whatever partnerships we need, to bring closure and solutions,” Staly said. “We’ll do that every time.”
