Edgecombe County sheriff’s deputies are investigating what led someone to dispose of a stolen SUV in the Tar River.

Sheriff James Knight said residents called authorities around 3 p.m. after seeing six or seven inches of the back of a Land Rover sticking out of the water Wednesday under a bridge near the intersection of N.C. 97 and Leggett Road.

“It looks like whoever did this was trying to submerge it completely in the water,” Knight said. “They broke out all of the windows and tried to break the windshield, but didn’t make it through.”

The dark blue SUV was reported stolen in 2007 from Virginia but was submerged without any plates, Knight said.

“We pulled it out of the water and will process it and see what we have from there,” Knight said.

Rocky Mount police and N.C. Highway Patrol assisted deputies in the investigation. Knight said he believes the SUV was pushed into the river sometime Wednesday, so he is asking anyone with information to call the department at 641-7911.