Posted at: 06/18/2009 4:45 PM
Updated at: 06/19/2009 12:55 PM
By: Cris Ornelas and Gadi Schwartz, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

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Remains of 4 found in car in Cochiti Lake

Car pulled from Cochiti Lake

State police say they have pulled a car out of Cochiti Lake in Sandoval County Thursday and they say they have located the remains of at least four bodies. One of the discovered skulls is described as smaller, and was found in a child's car seat.

It took police until well into the afternoon to obtain a search warrant to enter the car.

They say the registered owner of the vehicle is wanted in connection with a custodial interference and kidnapping case in which three children were taken in 2001 in Albuquerque.

Authorities have been at the scene all day, using a dive team to look for clues and figure out who was inside the car.

The state police dive team was out at the lake with sonar equipment trying to find another truck that reportedly rolled into the lake. Instead, they discovered the car with the remains inside.

Crews pulled a muddy Ford Taurus out of the lake onto a boat loading ramp at Tetilla Peak, on the north side of the lake.

Inside the car, investigators found a human skull in the back seat. Investigators were sifting through silt inside the car Thursday evening to attempt to find more bones.

Albuquerque police were called in to the investigation when the vehicle was discovered to be potentially related to a missing persons case from eight years ago.

Police say in that case, Richard Sanchez took his three boys for the weekend, but never returned. They were 12, nine and two years old.

They were last seen in a white Taurus like the vehicle found submerged Thursday.

Police say they are talking with the woman who reported her children missing in that case. They say she is understandably upset, but also relieved to finally know what may have happened to her children after eight years.

In 2001, Eyewitness News 4 spoke to the mother, Susana Sanchez, and she had this message for her estranged husband: "Please bring them home. They have their family here and their school, they have a life here."

 Missing man has troubled past