Jennifer Lehman

The body found inside the car submerged in a pond at Edison State College on Friday has been positively identified as Jennifer Lehman, the south Fort Myers woman reported missing last August.

The a white, 1993 Nissan 300 ZX pulled from the retention pond at the Fort Myers campus was identified Friday as the last vehicle Lehman, 49, was seen in prior to her disappearance in August 2010, but the identity of the person inside the car was unknown until announced today by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office dive team went into the pond about 2 p.m. Friday after the car was spotted by a groundskeeper near the southeast corner of College Parkway and Whiskey Creek Drive.

The divers assisted in removing the vehicle from the pond. The car, which has some undercarriage damage, was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office for further inspection, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office reports that the traffic crash may have occurred as early as Aug. 13, 2010, when the vehicle and last known driver, Lehman, were reported missing by her former husband, Steve.

Jennifer Lehman had been very distraught since she lost her 20-year-old daughter, Brittany Lehman, in a car crash in June 2010, according to a Facebook group page, “Missing Ft. Myers Woman Jennifer Lehman.”

Lehman was last known to have gone to dinner at Minerva’s Bar & Grill in Fort Myers on that Friday the 13th with a male friend, who reported her very upset and crying over her daughter’s death. Her cell phone was not working and her bank account showed no activity since her disappearance, according to information posted on a blog at www.lostnmissing.com.

Minerva’s Bar & Grill, 15880 Summerlin Road, is about five miles away from the college pond where the car was found. The pond is only a short distance off Summerlin.

Evidence exists that the car may have been in the pond since August. NBC2 found aerial photos of the pond where the car was found. In a photo taken Aug. 20, one week after Lehman disappeared, a large white object is clearly visible in the pond.