An underwater search team found human remains and a car belonging to a New Hampshire woman who's been missing for 43 years

• New Hampshire authorities have solved a 43-year-old mystery after finding human remains in a car.
• Police said 63-year-old Alberta Leeman went missing on her way home in 1978.
• A conservation officer took interest in her case, and began searching for her in 2018.

Underwater search crews in New Hampshire have discovered human remains and a submerged car belonging to a woman who went missing in 1978, according to local and state authorities.

Alberta Leeman, 63, went missing 43 years ago, likely on her way home, authorities told WMUR.

State authorities in New Hampshire and Vermont are investigating how her 1972 Pontiac Lemans ended up in the Connecticut River, New Hampshire State Police said in a statement.

The mystery was largely solved by a conservation officer named Joe Canfield, who "learned of a missing woman and her vehicle and took an interest in the case," according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division.

Canfield used regularly scheduled training sessions from the agency's Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)/SONAR Team to focus on "areas that he thought were high-probability areas based on his research of the Leeman case," the agency said.

During a recent session, the search team discovered an apparent vehicle underwater in the Connecticut River. A dive team took over on August 5 and identified the car's license plate as one matching Leeman's 1978 Pontiac.

"The dedication of CO Canfield and the F&G ROV/SONAR Team has solved a 43-year-old mystery and finally given the Leeman family a sense of closure," the agency said.

Canfield and his search team were first assigned to the Leeman case in 2018, WMUR reported. Though the human remains found in Leeman's car haven't yet been identified, authorities told the station the Pontiac's license plate was "OB610" - the exact plate registered to Leeman at the time.

The agency added that before the Leeman discovery, the ROV/SONAR Team's "most famous find" occurred in 2018 when the crew found the skeletal remains of a man in his vehicle submerged in the Androscoggin River for 20 years.

Police said Leeman's disappearance wasn't considered suspicious and added that the public is not in danger.