Family hopes recovered car solves 25-year-old cold case

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla.- The family of Rita Sue Zul tells WINK News it would bring them great closure if a car recently pulled from a pond off State Road 31 turns out to be that of their loved one from 25 years ago.

Zul went missing in January 1990 after the 46-year-old left the old Marina 31 lounge in Fort Myers. She was never seen again.

Earlier this week, Scott Dunlap was out searching for missing woman Chelsey Green. He decided to put a magnet on his fishing pole and see what he could find in the pond next to the Lee Civic Center on State Road 31 and Bayshore Road. His magnet latched onto a car at the bottom.

He says, “when I hooked it I had him (his friend) follow my fishing line down the water, then he dove down and he felt a car, actually felt the window of the car and the roof of the car.”

Dive teams came out to recover the car, and while it wasn’t Chelsey Green’s vehicle, it may but the key to Zul’s disappearance 25 years ago.

The car was an older red Datsun 280-Z. The same one Zul was last driving before she disappeared.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating to see if it is in fact Zul’s car. Trust WINK News for updates.