The Dane County Sheriff’s Office in Madison, Wisconsin, directed a successful raising of the 1950 Ford coupe owned by Ron Wick in which Carl “Snay” Stolz and Wick had been entrapped and had died over 45 years ago.
Originally, the investigators had decided to leave the car at the bottom of Lake Waubesa. However, following the scavenging of the car, it was decided that the items retrieved, including the remains of two people believed to be Stolz and Wick, were in good condition and the car seemed to be in solid shape. The officers also feared that recreational divers would attempt to find “treasures” and could get entrapped if the car was left in the lake.
Wednesday's successful operation to raise the car came with the help of the Schmidt's towing and D.L. Anderson companies. The Dane County dive team tied air bags to the car, which was in some 35 feet of water about 600 yards offshore, and managed to raise the vehicle. With straps in place around the car, cranes on barges lifted the vehicle out of the water, onto a barge and took it to shore where it was loaded onto a flatbed truck to take to the Madison Police Department storage facility. Investigators continue to check the vehicle for remains and other evidence, and when they have finished gathering their evidence, the Wick family will have the option of taking the vehicle.
Stolz and Wick were last seen on February 21, 1961, when they told acquaintances they were going ice fishing. Despite intensive searches, neither men nor the car were found until July 21, 2006, when a recreational diver, using side scan sonar, discovered the vehicle embedded in silt. Since then, dive teams have been busy removing the remains of two men and their belongings from the car.
While the Stolz brothers had both left Danbury and their father, Hans had passed away in 1964, they leave many friends and people they consider family here. Hans, Danbury’s blacksmith for decades, and his wife, Bertha came to Danbury in 1942. The couple divorced, and Bertha moved to Sioux City. Seeking a better job, she placed the boys, Lawrence and Carl in an orphanage in Sioux City and headed to California. Unaware of his ex-wife’s deed, Hans was not married when he finally learned his children were in the orphanage. He wanted his children back home, but, being unmarried, he could not provide a satisfactory home for the boys. Ed and Irma Dose had the solution to this problem. Ed needed a couple extra hands on the farm, so he agreed to take the boys in. They were raised as their own with Wilbert, Gilbert, Helen, Viola and Bernice as their siblings. The Doses loved the boys as their own, and Lawrence said that they considered the Doses as their family.
“We had to work hard,” said Lawrence, “but we were raised well. Our father lived in an apartment in town and simply couldn’t care for us in his current condition.”
Hans made several trips to Germany and on one occasionÊbrought ElizabethÊback to Danbury where they were married.Ê They were married for ten years. ÊElizabeth made aÊtrip back to Germany a few yearsÊafter Hans passed away where she died unexpectantlyÊand was buried there.
In 1999, Lawrence purchased aÊ memorial headstone for Carl and had it placed next to his father.ÊÊ As soon as the remains are released to Lawrence, he plans to bring them back to Danbury to be placed next to his father.Ê Lawrence is told this could still take a month or so. "At least the 45 year wait is over and I'm relieved to be able to bring this to closure", commented Lawrence.