Fatal Vehicle-in-Water Incident in Vero Beach's Indian River Lagoon Reported October 22, 2026

An 86-year-old man was found dead inside a submerged vehicle in the Indian River Lagoon near Riverside Gardens in Vero Beach, according to the Vero Beach Police Department. The discovery was reported on October 22, 2026. Officers responded to the Greytwig Road area after receiving a report of fence damage near a seawall within Riverside Gardens, a condominium community on Vero Beach's barrier island. Upon arrival, they located the vehicle in the lagoon. The Indian River County Fire Rescue Dive Team assisted police at the scene. Authorities said the man lived in the area and had been reported missing the night before the vehicle was discovered. The waterfront section where the discovery occurred includes parking spaces close to the lagoon. A small parking barrier and a wooden fence stand between those spaces and the water. The report of fence damage brought officers to the area, but the circumstances of the vehicle's entry into the lagoon remain under investigation. Greytwig Road was identified as the response area, not as a confirmed roadway from which the vehicle entered the water. The report date also does not establish when that happened. Police said an autopsy is planned to determine the man's cause of death. That determination remains separate from the investigation into how the vehicle reached the lagoon.