SMITHVILLE – Police have identified the owner of the 1970s era Mercury Cougar convertible found in Round Pond and know how it came to rest at the bottom of 26-acre body of water.

According to Lt. Richard Cobb of the Chenango County Sheriff’s Department, the vehicle was stolen from outside the Sportsman Inn in Smithville Flats in 1973 while its owner, Addison McLaud, was inside the bar.

The car, which has been identified as a 1973 model, is believed to have been submerged in the pond for nearly four decades until it was discovered by divers from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office during a training exercise on May 14 and pulled from its watery tomb.

Since its discovery, Cobb has worked to piece together the story of the car and how it came to rest at the bottom of the pond.

“It’s generated a few phone calls,” Cobb said of an article about the car which appeared in the May 17 edition of The Evening Sun.

From callers, the lieutenant was able to identify McLaud as the owner of the dark green convertible. While McLaud himself is deceased, he was able to track down the man’s daughter. She remembered the car being stolen, Cobb said, but was unable to provide further details.

He was able to find out more from the first hand accounts of two individuals who claimed to have been present on the night of the incident. One alleged that a local “kid” later confessed that he took the car on a joy ride, which ended in the pond.

According to Cobb, the caller remembered then-Sheriff Joseph Benenati sending divers to search Round Pond for the car.