SOLVED: Missing 26-Year-Old Father of Two Found in 7ft Pond (Lae’Quan Little)
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SOLVED: Missing 26-Year-Old Father of Two Found in 7-Foot Pond After Weeklong Search
The disappearance and recovery of Lae’Quan Little reveals the growing role of civilian dive teams in modern missing-person cases
By Staff Investigative Correspondent
Greensboro, North Carolina
For seven agonizing days, Tama Little slept with her phone beside her pillow, volume turned all the way up, afraid to miss a call that might bring her son home.
“I just want my child back,” she said through tears as cold rain fell across Greensboro. “If somebody knows something, say something.”
On the seventh day, her worst fear was confirmed.
Lae’Quan Little — a 26-year-old father of two who vanished days before New Year’s Eve — was found deceased in a seven-foot-deep retention pond less than a mile from where he was last seen. His black Honda Civic sat submerged nearby, partially buried in silt, hidden beneath ice and murky water.
The discovery brought devastating closure to a family that had spent a week searching, pleading, and hoping — and it raised urgent questions about how easily someone can disappear in plain sight, even with surveillance footage, phone records, and law enforcement involvement.
It also highlighted the extraordinary role of independent civilian dive teams — volunteers who now routinely succeed where traditional searches stall.
A Disappearance in the Early Morning Hours
Lae’Quan Little was last seen on December 30, leaving the Reserve at Bridford Apartments in Greensboro, North Carolina. According to family members, he was driving a 2009 black Honda Civic and planned to return home later that night.
Sometime after midnight, something went wrong.
At approximately 3:00 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, the mother of Lae’Quan’s child received a troubling phone call.
“He was talking really fast,” Tama Little recalled. “He kept saying, ‘I’m in the grass. I’m in the grass.’ But then the call dropped.”
The words haunted her.
When Lae’Quan failed to return home, his family immediately grew alarmed. He was a devoted father. He did not disappear without explanation. He did not ignore calls.
By the next morning, he was officially reported missing.
Surveillance Footage, But No Answers
Investigators reviewed surveillance video from the apartment complex. The footage showed a black vehicle matching Lae’Quan’s Honda Civic leaving the property late at night.
But after that, the trail vanished.
No further camera footage. No confirmed sightings. No phone pings that provided a definitive location.
Rumors and theories began to circulate.
Some speculated foul play. Others believed he may have left voluntarily. Still others suggested an accident — possibly involving water.
For Tama Little, the uncertainty was unbearable.
“It was freezing,” she said. “It had been raining. It had snowed. Seven days. If my son was out there, he was cold. Alone.”
Enter the Civilian Dive Teams
As days passed without progress, the family reached out to independent search-and-recovery divers — volunteer groups increasingly known for locating missing persons submerged in waterways.
Among them were Jeremy Sides and Adam Brown, members of a civilian dive team whose work has drawn national attention. Once focused on environmental cleanup, their efforts have expanded into cold-case resolution and active missing-person searches.
Their approach is methodical: analyze last-known locations, vehicle trajectories, terrain, water depth, and accident probability — then search areas often overlooked.
“We don’t guess,” Sides explained. “We follow the physics.”
On arrival in Greensboro, the team began surveying every body of water within a plausible route from the apartment complex to Lae’Quan’s home.
Ponds. Creeks. Retention basins. Rivers.
Many were frozen solid.
Frozen Water, Limited Visibility
Winter weather complicated the search. Temperatures hovered around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, leaving most small ponds covered in ice.
“We couldn’t even deploy our sonar boat at first,” one diver said. “Everything was frozen over.”
Still, the team documented every location, noting which would require follow-up once conditions improved.
At one pond inside the apartment complex itself, they noticed faint lines in the grass near the shoreline — marks that could have been caused by landscaping equipment, or something else entirely.
A depth reading revealed seven feet of water — deep enough to conceal a vehicle.
The team marked it.
False Leads and Unexpected Discoveries
The following day, the divers expanded their search to nearby lakes and rivers. At one lake, sonar detected a submerged vehicle — a discovery that briefly raised hopes.
But an underwater drone revealed it was an older Lexus, likely dumped years earlier.
“No body inside,” the diver confirmed. “Not related.”
It was a reminder of a sobering truth: many waterways hide multiple vehicles, forgotten and undocumented.
But the team wasn’t done.
The Breakthrough
Returning to the frozen pond near the apartment complex, the divers deployed an underwater drone through a break in the ice.
Almost immediately, the screen revealed something unmistakable.
A human foot.
“Go back,” one voice said quietly.
The drone shifted.
“There. That’s a body.”
The remains lay just a short distance from the submerged vehicle.
Moments later, the drone found the car.
“There’s the Civic,” the diver confirmed. “That’s it.”
The car’s windows were open. The vehicle had entered the pond silently, leaving no visible tire tracks or obvious debris behind. Over time, silt had partially buried the frame, obscuring it from view — even to earlier drone surveys.
Lae’Quan Little had been there the entire time.
Confirmation and Law Enforcement Response
The team immediately contacted authorities.
Using the drone, they documented the scene: Lae’Quan’s clothing, the vehicle’s position, the open window, and the proximity of the body to the car.
Greensboro police arrived shortly after.
“Yes,” an officer confirmed. “That is him.”
After seven days, the search was over.
What Likely Happened
While the investigation remains officially ongoing, authorities believe the incident was an accidental vehicle entry into the pond, likely caused by disorientation, darkness, or impairment.
The open window suggests Lae’Quan may have attempted to escape the vehicle.
Cold water shock, low visibility, and panic can overwhelm even strong swimmers in seconds.
Experts note that most submerged vehicle fatalities occur within minutes, especially at night and in winter conditions.
A Family’s Grief — and Gratitude
For Tama Little, the discovery was devastating — but necessary.
“I didn’t want him to be out there,” she said softly. “But at least I know. At least I can bring my son home.”
She expressed deep gratitude to the divers.
“They didn’t give up,” she said. “They found him when no one else could.”
A Growing Role in Modern Investigations
Civilian dive teams like this one have helped solve dozens of missing-person cases nationwide — often in partnership with law enforcement, sometimes years after official searches ended.
Their tools include:
Side-scan sonar
Underwater drones (ROVs)
Depth-mapping technology
Accident reconstruction analysis
Many work entirely on donations.
“It’s not about views,” one diver said. “It’s about closure.”
Unanswered Questions
While the case is now considered solved, it raises difficult questions:
How many similar accidents go undetected?
How many missing persons remain submerged just feet from where they were last seen?
And how many families wait years for answers that might lie beneath still water?
As Greensboro mourns Lae’Quan Little — a father, son, and friend — his story stands as a tragic reminder of how quickly life can change, and how fragile certainty can be.
Remembering Lae’Quan Little
Lae’Quan was 26 years old.
He loved his children. He was close with his family. He was not someone who vanished by choice.
Now, he will be laid to rest — not as a missing person, but as someone found.
And for his family, that truth, however painful, is priceless.
