A 44-year-old murder case has gotten hope for closure after two skeletal remains were found in a car submerged in a murky pond in the United States last week. The car is believed to belong to a Scarsdale couple that vanished in 1980.

Charles Romer, a retired oil company executive from Scarsdale, and his wife Catherine were driving to the Westchester County suburb from their home in Florida in the spring of 1980. They made a stop at a Holiday Inn, now called the Royal Inn, in Georgia. However, they could not be found after that day even as the police found some of their unpacked belongings in the hotel, reported The New York Times.

The incident left their family searching for answers for decades, with the police suspecting that the couple may have been killed in a robbery as Ms Romer had a large amount of jewellery with her.

Now, nearly 44 years later, the finding of bones and a trove of jewellery, including a Rolex watch and diamond ring, from the submerged car has given hope that the cold case may have been solved.

According to Georgia police spokesperson Lawton Dodd, the human remains in the car “conclusively show the bodies of two people were in the vehicle”.

It is yet to be ascertained whether the remains belong to the Romers.

The police have also found a license plate bearing the couple’s initials, Ms Romer’s granddaughter told The New York Times.

Investigators are also reportedly seeking a VIN number from the car to see if it matches the couple’s 1979 Lincoln Continental – in which they were travelling the day they went missing.

Further investigation is underway to determine whether the remains belong to the Romers – who were in their second marriage, officials said.

“While the investigation will take months to complete, this development offers a resolution far better than the endless questions we’ve faced for so long,” another granddaughter of Ms Romer told the New York Post.

The police have also found another car in the same pond, but it is reportedly not related to the Romers’ missing case.