Google Maps image helped solve tragic death after man went missing for almost a decade

If we’re all being honest, using the proper image satellite view on Google Maps is only really something we do when we’re having a play about or trying to see where your posh mate’s parents live.

But it seems the Google feature can be used for much more serious reasons, as it once helped solve a tragic death after a men vanished for almost a decade.

Back in 2006, David Lee Niles was reported missing in Michigan, US, by his family after they failed to get in contact with him. The 72-year-old was last seen when he said goodbye to a friend at a bar in Byron Township.

He was apparently battling cancer and poor mental health at the time, and is said to have been feeling unwell when he ‘abruptly’ left the place.

The car can just about be seen under the water. (Google Maps)

A search began for Niles, but essentially went cold, due to no progress being made, and it was just assumed he was dead.

His family eventually put an obituary online in 2011, saying he has passed away ‘and only God knows the time and place’.

But fast-forward to 2015, and Google Maps came into play in helping to finally solve the mystery.

In November, Brian Houseman was decorating a Christmas tree outside Cook Funeral Home not far from the bar Niles had disappeared from. And he could see something rather strange in the near distance.

He decided to scale the tree when he spotted what looked like a car sunken in a nearby pond. Houseman recalled on WOOD-TV: “All of a sudden, it's like, 'Whoa, there's a car out there.'"

The man added that ‘no one’ could have ever seen it as it ‘was murky and things moved around’.

Understandably, with some worry over what it might lead to, he alerted the Kent County Sheriff’s Department.

The car was recovered. (News 8)

And it’s reported that investigators had a quick check of Google Maps, where the outline of a car was visible from above.

A dive team was sent to the scene where the vehicle was recovered. Tragically, Niles’ remains and his wallet were found inside.

His son-in-law said of the grim find: “For us today, it's a closure of a long search. Why God waited nine years, I have no idea, but we're happy. It's good to have him home."

And Lt. Ron Gates told As It Happens: “The vehicle had been there for a while. There were no tracks in the grass.

"It looked like the vehicle had been there longer than one day."

While the car and his body were found, the mystery over Niles’ disappearance remains relatively unsolved.