PUNTA GORDA — Law enforcement kept dozens of spectators in suspense as a station wagon dangled from a crane, the canal waterline just high enough to cover the license plate.

If the license plate read SNOBIRD, the Punta Gorda Police Department could have concluded it was the car of 64-year-old Frances Hendrickson, who was last seen in 1993 driving a light-blue Buick station wagon with the specialty tag.