STUART, Fla. — Two bodies found in a pond in Martin County have been identified. The Martin County Sheriff's Office said Ongela Smith, 47, and Vincent Thomas, 64, were the couple found floating in a pond just off Indiantown Avenue.
Investigators said the driver of the car missed a turn and landed 25 feet into the pond. They went on to say it doesn't appear anyone was wearing a seat belt.
Smith's mother spoke to WPTV about the death of her daughter.
"I didn't know what to think," Victoria Smith said. "I didn't want to believe it was true."
She said she got a call right after filling out a missing person's report for her daughter.
Victoria Smith said she was with her daughter Saturday at a wedding for a family member in Canal Point.
Investigators said Smith and her boyfriend left the wedding about midnight. That wedding would be the last time anyone would see them alive.
A driver passing a pond Monday near Indiantown Avenue right off the Beeline Highway saw a body floating in the water. That person called the sheriff's office.
"It's dark. They have no idea where they're at. They're not from here," Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told WPTV. "It's 25 (feet) of water. The windows are open. They could have expired inside the car when it filled up with water and then floated out, or they could have actually gotten out of the car through the open windows and then drowned."
Victoria Smith said her daughter was an educated woman with a master's degree from Florida Atlantic University and had been a teacher for more than a decade. She said Ongela Smith was working through some hard times and had come closer to God.
"Yeah, my heart is broken," Victoria Smith said. "I don't know how I'm going to take it."
Ongela Smith leaves behind five children. She would have turned 48 on Thursday.
