If he lived on that street or a connecting street then you can see how he might drive right into that pond if he fell asleep (from all those drinks at the club) right before making that turn.

Good point, but why oh why didn't the police think to check the ponds years ago?

They probably looked a bit, but missing persons cases don't usually get satellite fly-bys.

I thought about that as well. I guess there are any number of answers and maybe they did check the ponds and couldn't see anything -- it was visible on google maps for 12 years and nobody spotted it so it couldn't have been that easy to see from the shore.

Other comments reveal that, in fact, this is inside a gated community. Driving your car into a gated community and then into a pond just doesn't add up as an accident.

http://charleyproject.org/case/william-earl-moldt says he disappeared while the the gated community was under development

Ah, OK; well that paints a bit of a different picture: driving through some construction site which might have been in who knows what sort of disarray at the time, without proper roads and hazards/obstacles and whatnot.

He was a mortgage broker. I wonder if he had an active deal, or looking to buy property there.

Yeah that sounds a bit like some Hot Fuzz, "The Greater Good" level stuff going on.