California homeowner reported buried Mercedes stolen in 1992, received $87K insurance payout, official says
Mercedes-Benz discovered buried on grounds of $15M California manse was reported stolen in 1992
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former owner of a California manse where a Mercedes-Benz was discovered buried in the yard had reported the vehicle stolen – and received a hefty insurance payout – 30 years ago, according to a local paper.
Johnny Bocktune Lew, the man who built the $15 million estate on property along Stockbridge Avenue in Atherton, reported his Mercedes-Benz stolen in 1992, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
Wagstaffe also said Lew received between $87,000 and $88,000 in insurance money for the reportedly stolen vehicle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A mansion is under investigation by police after a car was found buried on the property the day before, in Atherton, California, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group via AP)
The Atherton Police Department received a call on Thursday morning for a report of a buried vehicle that was uncovered while landscaping work was being done in the yard. Atherton is located roughly 30 miles south of San Francisco.
Over the course of the next several days, excavators and Investigators worked to remove the vehicle from the scene and find answers to how and why it had been placed there.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Atherton police continue to investigate the discovery of a vehicle found buried in the yard of a home in the 300 block of Stockbridge Avenue in Atherton, California, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (Julia Prodis Sulek/Bay Area News Group via AP)
On Saturday, a cadaver dog "made notification of possible human remains," though investigators have not recovered any in the car or on the property so far.
CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPERS MAKE BIZARRE DISCOVERY UNDER LAWN, HOMEOWNER HAD NO IDEA
Police have said the vehicle was buried four to five feet deep, with the front facing into the dirt, and they believe it was placed there in the 1990s. Investigators recovered "unused bags of concrete throughout the vehicle," police said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The $15 million mansion in Atherton, California, where police found a buried Mercedes. (TopHap)
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Lew died in 2015 and had a checkered past that included attempted murder convictions and a past insurance fraud arrest.
Lew was convicted in 1977 of attempted murder and spent three years behind bars, the Chronicle reported. He was reportedly busted for insurance fraud in the late '90s after he unknowingly enlisted undercover cops to move a $1.2 million yacht "into international waters and put it on the bottom."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police found a Mercedes buried under a California lawn Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco)
Lew was convicted of murder in 1996, but the verdict was overturned just years later.
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Police have said they believe the vehicle was buried on the property before the current homeowners moved in. They are still investigating the circumstances and motive.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital’s Julia Musto contributed to this report.