Phillip Russell of the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office has identified the body of a white male found in a white 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck submerged in a Trussville pond on Saturday, as Michael Chris Carroll, 40, of Odenville. The identification was made through dental records. The family has been notified and assisted officials with the identification process. The coroner’s office did not list a cause of death at the time of the identification.
Officials say Carroll had been reported missing to the Margaret police department in February 2012. Trussville Police Chief Don Sivley confirmed that the Ford truck was registered to Carroll and identification found on the body belonged to the deceased.
Personnel with Trussville Fire and Rescue located the pickup truck and the body when they were preparing to remove a minivan, also white in color, from the pond at the intersection of Camp Coleman Road and Highway 11 on Saturday.
Trussville police Lt. Jeff Bridges confirmed that police were aware of one vehicle in the pond. That vehicle, a white minivan, was visible from the road, but the truck in which the man’s body was found wasn’t visible until divers went in Saturday and found it beneath the surface.
“We did know there was a white vehicle in the pond,” Bridges said. “One of our officers had dived the pond in the past to check it out. There was nothing there that indicated a problem and the property owner didn’t want to remove it at the time. We were not aware of the second vehicle that was removed on Saturday and it wasn’t visible from the road. The divers found it when they went in for the first vehicle that we had checked out before.”
Bridges said officials decided to remove the vehicle in preparation of guardrails being installed in the area
.
Sivley said Saturday the license plates on the truck were registered to an out-of-area male, now known to be Carroll. The vehicle is believed to have been in the pond for months, based on information obtained by officers during the investigation, but had not been visible from the surface.
“We have some good information to go on in our investigation,” Sivley said Staurday following the recovery. “Obviously, we’ll await positive identification and proper notification before releasing any additional information at this time.”
The truck was towed from the scene. The body was recovered from the pond by fire and rescue personnel working from a small boat a short time later and was transported to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office for positive identification.