Fox News Oklahoma state law enforcement officials have pulled two vehicles from a lake that may contain the bodies of six people listed as missing for decades.
The Daily Elk Citian reported that the vehicles — which were recovered from Foss Lake in western Oklahoma Tuesday afternoon — appear to match a Camaro missing with three Sayre teenagers since 1970 and an older Chevrolet with two Canute residents missing since the late 1950s or early 1960s.
The Camaro was from 1969 and belonged to 16-year-old Jimmy Williams, KOKH reports
. The car and Williams were last seen on Nov. 20, 1970, along with two of Williams’ friends, 18-year-old Thomas Rios and 18-year-old Leah Johnson.
The second vehicle, a Chevrolet dating from the 1950s, may be linked to the disappearance of a couple from the town of Canute in the early 1960s. The couple were last seen heading to the lake, the Elk City Daily News reports, according to News9. A third body was found in the car, but authorities have not identified all of the remains.
Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples is asking for anyone who recalls any information about that cases to contact police, the Daily Elk Citian reports.
“It’s just been under water for 40 years. It’s a mucky mess,” Peoples told KWEY radio.
In addition to the Custer County Sheriff’s Department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, and the state medical examiner’s office were on scene Tuesday.
Authorities discovered the cars by accident. Betsy Randolph, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, told the Associated Press dive teams were at Foss Lake conducting training with sonar when they came upon the vehicles last week.
“So they went back and did a scheduled dive today and were going to recover the cars. When they pulled the cars out of the water, the first one that came out they found bones in the car,” she said.
When they pulled the second car out, another set of bones was discovered. The divers then went back in the water and searched around and found a skull, she said.
The remains were turned over to the medical examiner’s office.
“We thought it was just going to be stolen vehicles and that’s not what it turned out to be, obviously,” Randolph said.
She said the Highway Patrol is hoping the discovery will offer some relief to families who may have gone decades wondering where a missing loved one was.
“We’re hoping these individuals, that this is going to bring some sort of closure to some families out there who have been waiting to hear about missing people,” she said. “If that’s the case, then we’re thrilled we were able to bring some sort of closure to those families.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sounds like they may have found some of the missing civil rights activists.The time period sounds right.
“The Daily Elk Citian reported that the vehicles — which were recovered from Foss Lake in western Oklahoma Tuesday afternoon — appear to match a Camaro missing with three Sayre teenagers since 1970 and an older Chevrolet with two Canute residents missing since the late 1950s or early 1960s.”
I find it hard to believe that no one, after all of these years, has bothered to look or check under a lake even once to do research or anything.
Same place, same MO. Same perp[s].
This isn’t uncommon for Oklahoma. One old strip pit in East Okie was drained & a bunch stolen cars from Texas insurance scams were found. It is rumored that if all the dead in those pits & creek backwaters were to come alive, the population of Oklahoma would double.