A family of Indian-origin grandparents from upstate New York who went missing during a religious road trip have been found dead next to their car in West Virginia, authorities confirmed on Saturday.
The victims — Dr. Kishore Divan (89), Asha Divan (85), Shailesh Divan (86), and Gita Divan (84) — were on a pilgrimage from Buffalo, New York, to Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, a historic Hindu site in Moundsville, West Virginia, when they vanished on Tuesday.
Their bodies were discovered beside their wrecked light green Toyota Camry, bearing New York licence plates (EKW2611), along Big Wheeling Creek Road, close to their destination. The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office said the group was found around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, down a steep embankment near the accident site.
“First responders were on the scene for more than five hours,” said Sheriff Mike Dougherty.
The family had last been seen at a Burger King outlet on Peach Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, and had stopped at a temple in Pittsburgh earlier in their trip. Their vehicle was last detected by a Pennsylvania State Trooper’s Licence Plate Reader while travelling south on Interstate 79 at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, about 60 kilometres from their intended destination.
According to US authorities, the group had booked accommodation at the Palace Lodge Hotel in Moundsville for Tuesday night but never checked in. Credit card records confirmed their last known transaction, and concerns grew when there was no further contact. Their disappearance prompted a multi-state search, with authorities issuing a public appeal:
“The Divans have not been seen since Tuesday, July 29th… They were en route from Buffalo, NY, to the Palace of Gold on McCreary’s Ridge Road in Marshall County.”
Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, their intended destination, is a revered spiritual retreat constructed in the 1970s by followers of Srila Prabhupada, the Indian spiritual leader who introduced the Hare Krishna movement to the West before his death in 1977. Today, the site remains one of the most prominent Hindu landmarks in the United States.
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