Texas fisherman finds submerged truck stolen in 2014

JACKSONVILLE, Texas (KETK) – A fisherman in Texas caught a lot more than fish on Wednesday.

The angler, who was fishing on the west side of the Lake Jacksonville dam in Jacksonville, detected something unusual on his Garmin Livescope Camera: a pickup truck 20 feet underwater.

The fisherman sent the video to his friend Jon Hargett, who is also a member of a dive team.

"It was just an interesting day on Lake Jacksonville," Hargett said.

A dive team came out Thursday morning to investigate, and KXAN sister station KETK was there to capture it all.

With only about a foot of visibility, the divers found a 1999 black Ford F-150 under the water that was last registered in Rusk, Texas. Investigators located the owner and learned that the truck had been stolen in 2014.

“We already knew from sonar pictures provided by Jon Hargett what the vehicle looked like,” diver Billy McDonald said. “So once we made contact, we knew which direction to go and what we were looking for, and we could do that in zero visibility by feel.

A towing and hauling company helped extract the truck from the lake. No one was inside the vehicle, but a diver found a fish swimming in the back. He caught the fish and released it.

"It was interesting to at least see the truck come out of the water, and [I was] relieved to find out there was no souls in the cab, so to speak," Hargett said. "There was no one involved in that accident."