FAMILY MURDER?.. Grandpa Missing 43 Years - The Case of Thomas Privitera (pt2)

On December 13, 1981, 79‑year‑old Thomas Privitera was last seen around 7:30 p.m. on Stewart Avenue in Westhampton, New York, driving his bronze 1971 Oldsmobile with New York plate 487‑IOJ toward his home on Doris Drive in Mastic Beach. He never arrived and has not been heard from since, leaving behind a decades‑long mystery that includes winter road conditions, limited documentation, and family concerns ranging from a driving accident to possible foul play involving relatives who relied on him financially. CHECK OUT DAY 1 HERE: https://youtu.be/Rt05bPgfJFA Be sure to go check out @exploringwithamission and their ongoing search efforts. In Day 1 of this search, the team focused on the most straightforward theory: that Thomas slid off an icy back road into a nearby body of water on his usual route home. Multiple ponds and lakes were checked and several promising sonar targets were eliminated, including a deep hole and other mapped locations that ultimately proved too shallow, too new, or physically inaccessible for a large four‑door Oldsmobile to have entered and remained hidden since 1981. In today’s episode, the team returns to Long Island with Thomas’s grandson, Bob, to refine the search using additional family details and on‑the‑ground local knowledge. They start by reviewing Thomas’s typical driving habits, his dislike of night driving, and the family’s memories of him visiting his aunt’s home on Stewart Avenue that evening, which introduces a second major theory: that something may have happened there, separate from an accident on the road. From there, the team expands the search radius to bodies of water in and around Riverhead and and a reported psychic suggestion that Thomas’s car might be in water behind a former Sears location. Using side‑scan sonar and GPS mapping, they systematically work through marinas, rivers, and coves, evaluating depth, bottom structure, and road access as they clear each location. Several sonar images that initially resemble vehicle‑sized shapes or sets of tires are revisited from multiple angles and then ruled out as rocks, dock debris, or boats resting on the bottom. The episode also includes a re-focused look at Wildwood Lake, revisiting earlier assumptions about depth and access. In some spots, the team discovers that seemingly promising water quickly drops to 15–20 feet, theoretically deep enough to conceal a car, while other areas remain under a few feet of water far from shore, making long‑term concealment of a large sedan unlikely. Sonar passes are combined with magnet drops to confirm whether metallic signatures match a vehicle frame or are isolated items like tires, trailers, or other small objects. As Bob rides along, the team takes time to explain how vehicles behave when entering water, how depth influences whether a car can flip or simply settle, and how long‑submerged vehicles appear on sonar after decades. They show him how to interpret shadows, outlines, and bottom changes on the screen so he can later apply these skills on his own boat if new search locations emerge near Westhampton, Riverhead, or Mastic. By the end of Day 2, several high‑probability locations are confidently ruled out, and the accident‑only theory is tested against the family’s long‑standing concerns about the aunt and her boyfriend, who may have known Thomas often carried cash. While no vehicle matching his bronze 1971 Oldsmobile is located in this episode, the cleared waterway map grows, the search strategy improves, and Thomas’s story reaches more people who might hold a missing piece of information. Viewers are encouraged to share this video, review public case details, and contact law enforcement or the team’s official channels if they are aware of deep, historically accessible water along Thomas Privitera’s possible routes that has never been checked. ➦ Share this video to SPREAD AWARENESS of the service AWP provides for FREE! ❤️.. JOIN THE AWP MOVEMENT ..❤️ (Get Videos Early)... ➤ http://bit.ly/AWP-Team-Member 🎯 Subscribe to AWP on YouTube (It's Free)...➤ http://bit.ly/SubAWP 👕 AWP Merchandise..➤ https://adventureswithpurpose.com 📌 Follow Us on Facebook... ➤ https://bit.ly/FollowAWP HOW IS AWP FUNDED?... ➤ https://youtu.be/wz1dCguO2y0 💔 WINDOW BREAKERS SAVE LIVES! 😢 A MUST-HAVE Safety Tool for ALL Drivers. https://adventureswithpurpose.com/products/window-breakers Want to tell us about a case? Email our support team: [email protected] 🎬.. Watch Other Cases We've Solved ==================== SOLVED: Missing 23-years Underwater (Samantha Hopper, 22-month-old Daughter Courtney, Unborn Baby) https://youtu.be/isqd8OOcJpQ SOLVED: 💔 Missing 24-year-old Jacob VanZant Found https://youtu.be/xrHE70g7h4c SOLVED: How We FOUND Kiely Rodni: MURDER or ACCIDENT? https://youtu.be/bPwnDyW26gk #Missing #MissingPerson #ColdCase