Cody Holmes was looking forward to driving his red Ford Ranger on his 16th birthday. Instead, he was the unlikely crane operator who pulled the vehicle from the depths of an Ames lake two decades later.
The pickup was uncovered in the lake at West Peterson Park on Sunday, June 22, 20 years after it was initially stolen. Holmes is a key operator for Central Iowa Towing and Recovery, who helped the Story County Sheriff’s Office recover the vehicle.
The vehicle was initially stolen from the Nevada family’s driveway. The owner, Robin French Frazier, was planning to gift it to her son.
“I assumed that the truck was gone forever, but never imagined that it would be found like this,” Frazier said. “I threw the title away a couple of years ago because I didn’t expect to ever see it again after this long.”
The Ford Ranger was meant to be driven by Holmes, who was 15 at the time.
Homes learned to drive a stick shift in the red Ranger. His mother promised him the vehicle when he turned 16, but it was stolen just a few months before his birthday.
“It was mind-blowing, the odds that 20 years later I’m the one running the tow truck that ends up pulling it out,” Holmes said.
As the rotator operator for Central Iowa Towing, Holmes didn’t recognize the truck he helped pull out of the water until he found out it was registered to his mother.
“I heard over dispatch’s radio that it came back to (my mother),” Holmes said. “It was kind of shocking to hear her name come over the radio when the truck’s been missing for 20 years.
A boater spotted the submerged vehicle on sonar
A recreational boater spotted the submerged vehicle on their sonar on Saturday, June 21, and reported it to Story County Conservation, who in turn called the Story County Sheriff’s Office.
The Story County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team and UAS Team ventured out to Peterson Pits on Sunday after helping with the Ames Triathlon at Ada Hayden. The vehicle was successfully recovered around 2 p.m. with the help of Central Iowa Towing and Recovery.
Homes and his mother never found out who stole the vehicle. Considering there was some damage to the front end, he assumed it was stolen by some teenagers who took it joyriding and crashed it. He thinks they ultimately decided to ditch it in the water so it wouldn’t be found.
Holmes said the truck is unusable, filled with mud and rusted after being submerged in water for two decades.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: ‘It was mind-blowing’: Owner of stolen Ford Ranger aids recovery efforts 20 years later
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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