Buried Car Removed From Atherton Backyard

A car that was discovered buried in the backyard of an Atherton estate was removed from the home Saturday.

Sources told NBC Bay Area that police managed to fully excavate the Mercedes convertible earlier Saturday and it was taken to a crime lab, where it’s being scoured for evidence.

NBC Bay Area’s SkyRanger flew over the home Saturday evening, and saw the car was gone and a big hole was all that was left.

As NBC Bay Area previously reported, a former owner of the home named Johnny Bocktune Lew is believed to have buried the car about 30 years ago after he reported it stolen in 1992.

Police said they still don’t know why it was buried. They said that the cadaver dogs had mild hits when they sniffed the scene, indicating they might have smelled human remains. But so far, they have not found any human remains.

Officials said the car was buried about 4 to 5 feet underground.

Lew died in 2015 at the age of 77.

Police said the current homeowners had no idea the car was buried there.

The mansion and the dig site are only visible to outsiders from the air. As of Saturday night, neighbors continue to make daily trips by the property, hoping to learn something new about the intriguing and still unfolding story.

Atherton resident Don Traeger told NBC Bay Area that he only spoke to the Lew in passing.

“I ran in to him a few times. You know, you had no idea,” he said.

Like most people, Traeger wonders why Lew would report his car stolen, fill it with several bags of cement and bury it in the backyard.

“I think it’s crazy. How could you have a place like this? With property values so high, and you’re scamming – It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Traeger added that he no idea Lew once told investigators he was involved in organized crime or that he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in the 1960’s.

Lew was also convicted of attempted murder of another person in 1977 and had numerous other run-ins with the law including insurance fraud in the 1990’s, involving a plot to sink his yacht by the Golden Gate Bridge and collect the insurance money.

Longtime neighbors, who have been walking and driving by the home want to know what the car was doing there.

“This is so strange, so strange,” said Atherton resident Gurkirpal Singh.

Atherton police officials said they won’t have any more updates until Monday at the earliest.