A mother and her two young sons were found dead inside a submerged car in Lakeland Friday morning, according to the Lakeland Police Deparment.
Around 5:25 a.m., officers arrived at Lake Wire after receiving reports of the submerged car. Lakeland Fire Department and Dive Team were also dispatched to the location to assist in removing and searching the car.
Lakeland Police said as drivers began to remove the car, they noticed the front driver's side window was down and at least one adult was found inside.
Officials said after the car was pulled out of the lake, two children were also found inside the car. Through detectives' preliminary investigations, they do not believe this was the result of a traffic crash. Detectives also said there were no apparent signs of trauma on any of the people in the car.
Detectives said they believe the people found in the car were a 35-year-old woman and her two sons, ages four and nine.
Police still have questions about why the car ended up in the lake and so does Kim Seaboldt, who says she witnessed the incident as she drove to work.
“There weren’t a lot of cars on the road. It was maybe me, and I only saw like two other cars," she said. "I see a car in front of me doing a u-turn at Lake Wire (Drive). As I’m going south, they turn around and go north.”
Seconds later, Seaboldt says the car made a "deliberate" right turn off Sikes Blvd. and into the lake.
“I thought for a second, maybe they just decided to park there to look at the view. But then, I didn’t see any braking or anything going on," she recalled.
Seaboldt said she isn’t a strong swimmer, so she called 911 — stunned at what she saw.
“I told them, ‘I believe I just saw a car go into the water, because I’d never, you know — I was like, ‘Man, it’s early in the morning. Am I really seeing this?’ You know," she said.
Knowing what she knows now — including the scale of the tragedy that happened there — she can’t look at Lake Wire the same.
“My husband and I like to go fishing a lot, and as I’m looking at the lake, usually, I’m like, ‘Man, I want to be out there on the water.’ And today, it’s a different feeling. You know, I feel sad when I look at the lake now," she said.
Lakeland Police said the investigation is ongoing and the cause of death is still unknown.
According to an arrest affidavit, the Dec. 30 incident is the second vehicle to be driven into Lake Wire in only about a week.
The affidavit says Clinton Bishop of Tampa was charged with reckless driving and assault on a law enforcement officer after driving into the lake on Christmas Eve.
"While talking to him, I smelled the impurities of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath," an officer wrote, in part. "While speaking with the defendant about the crash, he became upset and began to approach me aggressively with both his fists clenched as if he was going to strike me."
According to the affidavit, "the defendant had a small child in his vehicle." Lakeland Police said the child was uninjured.
