Posted: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:31 AM - 13,295 Readers

By: Canwest News Service

A Central Texas drought has provided an unlikely assist to the auto theft task force of the Travis County Sheriff's Office. A 10-metre drop in water levels at Lake Travis, has revealed three vehicles reported missing decades ago. Police have recovered a 1984 Nissan 300ZX reported stolen in July, 1988 and a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Both cars were discovered with keys still in their ignitions. A recovered Kawasaki motorcycle was a relative newcomer to the lake bottom–it was reported stolen in June.

The locations of the vehicles have gradually become apparent as waters receded in recent weeks. Detective Mike Norton told KVUE TV news he suspects the cars may have been dumped to perpetrate insurance fraud. Lake levels haven't fallen as low since 1984, explaining the vintage of the vehicles. "The way the lake levels are going, we may find more," he says. "We don't want anybody thinking they can come out here and start dumping vehicles and we're not going to find them."