A dive team that included forensic investigators from Wright State University found three vehicles and a boat, Kettering police Lt. Craig Moore said, but Dayton police will have to decide whether to bring the items up because the pond is on property in Dayton.
Police received information about a month ago about a possible location for Erica's remains, Moore said. A grid search was put together over the last three weeks, he said.
"We just have information that she could be somewhere in the lake. We have no information whether she is in the vehicles or out of the vehicles," Moore said.
Misty Baker said the tip came from a woman at a recent memorial service for her daughter, who was 9 went she went missing.
"She told me that at the time Erica went missing, Christian Gabriel and Jan Franks lived at a fishing lake," Misty Baker said.
The dive team had been in the area of the pond since about 1 p.m. today.
"It's overwhelming," Misty Baker said of Friday's activity. "I was hoping they would follow up on the lead, but I didn't hear anything, so I kind of stopped thinking about it."
She said she thought this could be the year her daughter's remains would be found.
In February, the 14th anniversary of Erica's disappearance, Kettering police and her family members revealed publicly for the first time their fears that she may initially have survived the hit-and-run accident long believed to have caused her death.
Longtime lead detective Sgt. Bob Green speculated then that Erica may have been alive at the time she was struck by a van driven by Christian Gabriel, the only person ever charged in connection with her disappearance.
Moore said the tip included information that Gabriel's car had been seen in the area of Friday's search. That vehicle, which was impounded years ago, is not in the water.
"The tip we had was that the body was possibly in the water," Moore said. Kettering police have long expressed the feeling that they are certain Erica is dead but continue to actively pursue leads.
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