09-24-2013, 08:46 PM
Bodies of water - bodies in water - 1970s cold cases solved?
In the last 2 weeks, 3 cars recovered from bodies of water have been found containing 8 sets of skeletal remains.
Investigators are hoping to solve old missing persons cases and offer the remaining family members some closure - finally.
IN OKLAHOMA - 2 Cars, 6 bodies:
An Oklahoma sheriff says investigators are confident that one of two cars pulled from the bottom of an Oklahoma lake (during sonar testing) contained the remains of three teenagers who went missing in 1970. One of the cars pulled from the lake, a blue Chevrolet Camaro, matched the description of a car in connection with the teens' disappearance, The Daily Elk Citian reported. The missing teens were Thomas Michael Rios, 18, Leah Gail Johnson, 18, and Jimmy Allen Williams, 16.
“There have been theories from everybody. Everyone suspected foul play. ... But every lead just went nowhere.”
The paper reported that the three were supposed to be heading to a football game in a nearby town, but were never seen again. Some thought the three had stumbled across a drug deal at a rural airstrip and been killed. Others said they might have run away to California.
“The second vehicle is tentatively identified as the car with the missing juveniles from the Sayre area,” Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples told the paper. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that investigators are still trying to determine whose remains were in the first car pulled from Foss Lake. The Highway Patrol says three skulls have been recovered. It may, however, take years to identify the remains.
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IN SOUTH DAKOTA - 1 car, 2 bodies - foul play?
Crews lifted the rusted, mangled hulk of an old Studebaker from an embankment in Brule Creek near Elk Point, S.D. on Tuesday afternoon. A fisherman called authorities after noticing one of the car's wheels.
State and local agency leaders say some potential pieces of evidence have been taken from the site and will be processed.
They say no other information will be released until an autopsy and more testing is done and the families are told of the results.
Investigators say they think the car was driven by 17 year-olds Pam Jackson and Cheryl Miller, who were last seen May 29, 1971, driving a beige 1960 Studebaker Lark on their way to a party.
The missing persons case was revisited by cold case investigators back in 2004. A September 2004 search of a Union County farm turned up bones, clothing, a purse, photographs, newspaper articles and other items, but not the car. Authorities have never said if those bones belonged to the girls - or if they were even human remains.
In a warrant authorizing the search, authorities said that David Lykken, who lived at the farm in 1971, might have been involved in the disappearance of Miller and Jackson as well as three other unnamed people. Lykken, 59, is prison serving an unrelated 227-year sentence for rape and kidnapping.
In July 2007, a Union County grand jury indicted Lykken on two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of felony murder and two counts of murder in the disappearance of Miller and Jackson. He was arrested at the prison and scheduled for a March 2008 trial, but state prosecutors dropped all six murder charges after discovering a prison snitch made up a supposed admission.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/19/dec...p=trending
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5...cold-case/
In the last 2 weeks, 3 cars recovered from bodies of water have been found containing 8 sets of skeletal remains.
Investigators are hoping to solve old missing persons cases and offer the remaining family members some closure - finally.
IN OKLAHOMA - 2 Cars, 6 bodies:
An Oklahoma sheriff says investigators are confident that one of two cars pulled from the bottom of an Oklahoma lake (during sonar testing) contained the remains of three teenagers who went missing in 1970. One of the cars pulled from the lake, a blue Chevrolet Camaro, matched the description of a car in connection with the teens' disappearance, The Daily Elk Citian reported. The missing teens were Thomas Michael Rios, 18, Leah Gail Johnson, 18, and Jimmy Allen Williams, 16.
“There have been theories from everybody. Everyone suspected foul play. ... But every lead just went nowhere.”
The paper reported that the three were supposed to be heading to a football game in a nearby town, but were never seen again. Some thought the three had stumbled across a drug deal at a rural airstrip and been killed. Others said they might have run away to California.
“The second vehicle is tentatively identified as the car with the missing juveniles from the Sayre area,” Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples told the paper. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that investigators are still trying to determine whose remains were in the first car pulled from Foss Lake. The Highway Patrol says three skulls have been recovered. It may, however, take years to identify the remains.
======================================================
IN SOUTH DAKOTA - 1 car, 2 bodies - foul play?
Crews lifted the rusted, mangled hulk of an old Studebaker from an embankment in Brule Creek near Elk Point, S.D. on Tuesday afternoon. A fisherman called authorities after noticing one of the car's wheels.
State and local agency leaders say some potential pieces of evidence have been taken from the site and will be processed.
They say no other information will be released until an autopsy and more testing is done and the families are told of the results.
Investigators say they think the car was driven by 17 year-olds Pam Jackson and Cheryl Miller, who were last seen May 29, 1971, driving a beige 1960 Studebaker Lark on their way to a party.
The missing persons case was revisited by cold case investigators back in 2004. A September 2004 search of a Union County farm turned up bones, clothing, a purse, photographs, newspaper articles and other items, but not the car. Authorities have never said if those bones belonged to the girls - or if they were even human remains.
In a warrant authorizing the search, authorities said that David Lykken, who lived at the farm in 1971, might have been involved in the disappearance of Miller and Jackson as well as three other unnamed people. Lykken, 59, is prison serving an unrelated 227-year sentence for rape and kidnapping.
In July 2007, a Union County grand jury indicted Lykken on two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of felony murder and two counts of murder in the disappearance of Miller and Jackson. He was arrested at the prison and scheduled for a March 2008 trial, but state prosecutors dropped all six murder charges after discovering a prison snitch made up a supposed admission.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/19/dec...p=trending
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5...cold-case/