Residents and police in Virginia Beach are desperate to know why a car mysteriously drove off a pier and into the ocean just before sunrise on January 27. Unfavorable conditions in the water are hindering the investigation, and authorities have been unable to recover the vehicle. An incredible eyewitness video shows a car speeding down the Virginia Beach fishing pier and plummeting into the water below. Officials believe that if there was a driver, that person could not have survived.
Kaylynn Crawford, 16, was running on the beach with a friend just before 7 a.m. Saturday when they stopped to take a video of the sunrise. At that moment, they noticed a red car causing commotion and ultimately ending up in the water. Now, the family of a missing man desperately wants to know if he was the person in the car that day.
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The teens just happened to be near the site of the incident.
Crawford and her friend watched the car go into the water in disbelief. Video posted on social media, including X, showed their reactions.
"Is he gonna drive off the edge?" Crawford asks.
"Oh my God!" her friend yells.
"No f—ing way," Crawford says as the car plunges into the water and she gasps, "Dude, no."
The teen told the Virginian-Pilot she was shocked. She and her friend heard the car crash through gates on the pier and then watched it speed past, "Once they sped up, I was like, 'Oh no, he's going to drive off the pier,'" she told the newspaper.
The quick-thinking teen called police.
Crawford said police arrived in minutes and began to assess the situation. Sadly, the car sank, and crews have been unable to recover it.
Virginia Beach police spokesman Jude Brenya told the Virginian-Pilot that at this point, police cannot identify the make and model of the car, they do not have a license plate number, and it is unclear how many occupants were inside, if any.
"We are still trying to collect the right assets to be able to recover the vehicle," Brenya said. "And it seems like we're gonna have to rely on private companies."
Recovering the vehicle is proving impossible at this point.
Sergeant Brian Ricardo with the Virginia Beach Police Department Special Operations Bureau explained in a news conference that, at this point, it is not safe for divers to enter the water and try to recover the vehicle. As conditions improve, the investigation will go on, but it is unsafe right now. He explained that a crash in the water is unlike a crash on a roadway, and it is impossible to remove bodies without recovering the vehicle first.
"I have no visibility, which means I have to reach in trying to recognize as, let's say, maybe a car door that's upside down," he explained that trying to manipulate that kind of recovery without being able to see and while wearing 90 pounds of diving gear is just too difficult.
The family of a missing man fears the cases may be related.
WTWR reported that an unnamed man is missing, and his family has contacted police, hoping to help determine whether he may have been involved in the wreck. Police have not officially connected the two cases, but they shared the following statement with the news station:
“Though we have indicators these cases are related, at this time, we are unable to confirm this missing person is associated with the car that still has to be recovered. The ROV HAS NOT been able to discern if the submerged vehicle has a license plate attached. Once the vehicle is recovered, we will need the local office of the Medical Examiner to confirm identity of any occupant(s). The ongoing recovery efforts remain focused on reuniting any occupant(s) with their loved ones and maintaining the integrity of the investigation.”
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The case has captivated local people.
Although the information is limited, many people have praised the police for their work. Commenters on the VBPD's Facebook page thanked investigators for their efforts.
One person wrote, "Officers have families to go home to also, they are people not super heroes. We may never know what or why this happened but I am very happy no first responders were hurt."
"Wishing a safe recovery process. In due time, the weather will calm and will provide the window you need to complete the mission," another person wrote. "Praying over all first responders to continue to be safe in this recovery process."
Others remarked on the delicate nature of police work.
"The evidence in that car could potentially impact many lives for years to come. The legal world can take some very unforseen turns," another comment reads. "Evidence destroyed can even impact a survivor's insurance benefits. Unfortunately, police sometimes have to view things from an extremely unemotional, pragmatic place that's hard for the public to grasp … in order to achieve the outcomes we expect them to achieve."
