Investigators Say Car was Buried in Insurance Fraud Scheme

ATHERTON, Calif. (AP) — A car was buried in the backyard of a Northern California mansion 30 years ago as part of a scheme to commit insurance fraud, authorities said Thursday.

The convertible Mercedes was discovered last month by landscapers in the affluent town of Atherton in Silicon Valley.

Crews excavated the vehicle and police said no human remains were found after cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar were used to examine the scene.

Investigators said they determined the Mercedes was buried for insurance fraud purposes, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The car was reported stolen in nearby Palo Alto in September 1992. Its owner, Johnny Bocktune Lew, had owned the home where the Mercedes was found. He was accused in 1999 of hiring people to sink a yacht worth $1.2 million to cash in on the insurance, according to the Chronicle.

Lew, who is dead, had also served jail time for murder and attempted murder in Los Angeles County decades ago.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the San Jose Mercury News that Lew reported the Mercedes-Benz stolen in 1992 and collected $87,000 in insurance on the vehicle.

Lew was convicted of murdering a young woman in the 1960s, but he was released from prison after the California Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 1968, citing hearsay evidence that should not have been allowed at trial. Court records showed that in 1977 Lew was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, also in Los Angeles County, and spent three years in prison.