Car found in canal could be connected to a missing person

Update: 

Niagara Regional police have confirmed that a car found in the Welland canal last month is linked to the 2013 disappearance of Cathy Pietz. While the car has been identified, police are still working with the coroner to id the body found inside the vehicle.

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Niagara Regional Police are trying to identify the person found trapped in a fully submerged car in the Welland canal. So far police know it’s a woman and it’s possibly connected to a missing persons case dating back to three years ago but further DNA testing is underway.

Police say a recreational diver spotted the red four-door Pontiac in the water just off of Forks Road and Colborne Street. By Friday afternoon the vehicle was pulled out of the water using a crane. It’s still not clear how the car ended up in the canal, but police say the woman had been in the water for sometime and the autopsy was unable to determine her age or cause of death.

The site where the car was pulled was the focus of an investigation into the disappearance of 56-year-old Cathy Pietz, daughter of Alan Pietz, the former mayor of Welland. The Peitz family who live just off of Forks road, a few hundred metres from the scene say Niagara Regional Police did call them. They told them they did find a car in the canal has a similar description to Cathy’s vehicle.

Police believe she was driving a red four-door Pontiac and the car had two after-market hood vents, similar to the ones on the car pulled out of the Leisure canal. The Pietz family tells CHCH if the woman is identified as Cathy it would bring some much needed closure.