CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — A freelance videographer and drone pilot led authorities in central Missouri to discover a submerged vehicle tied to a decade-old missing person’s case.

On Saturday afternoon, the Camden County Sheriff’s Office was called to a pond in south county regarding the December 2013 disappearance of Donnie Erwin.

Erwin was last seen on the morning of Dec. 29, 2013, driving a silver Hyundai Elantra with Missouri license plate MK6-E3P.

James Hinkle, a volunteer firefighter and scuba driver who had an interest in the case for several years, approached the property owner and asked for permission to search the pond after spotting something that looked like a submerged vehicle.

Hinkle and the property owner searched the area on foot and with a kayak. They found a light-colored car in the pond.

The sheriff’s office requested assistance from the Mid-County Fire Protection District Dive Team. Divers searched the pond and discovered the submerged vehicle was, in fact, Erwin’s Hyundai Elantra. Erwin, however, was not in the vehicle. Cadaver dogs showed authorities where his remains were, and divers recovered them — including an artificial hip consistent with the one that Erwin had, a news release said.

Authorities pulled the vehicle from the pond and notified Erwin’s family of the discovery. Hinkle told NewsNation he was able to talk to everyone in the family and they even met for breakfast.

There was “a lot of information and tears, all the emotions that a person would go through when they’re actually mourning the passing of a person,” Hinkle said.

Now, Hinkle, who runs the YouTube page Echo Divers, plans on working on more cases in the hopes that he can help many more families.

Sgt. Scott Hines, a spokesman for the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, said the search for Erwin will continue.

Anyone with information on the disappearance or with knowledge of Erwin’s whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 573-346-2243 or the Missouri State Highway Patrol at 573-526-6178.