They had lain undiscovered under an Oklahoma lake for fifty years. And
now the discovery of two rusting vintage cars containing five bodies has
reignited the mystery of how three teenagers and one man and his
friends vanished more than four decades ago. One of the cases is believed
to be connected to the disappearance of Jimmy Allen Williams (top
right), Thomas Michael Rios, (top left), and Leah Gail Johnson, (bottom
right), all went missing after going for a drive in Jimmy's blue 1969
Camaro on November 20, 1
970.
Dive
teams were at Foss Lake conducting
training with sonar when they came upon the vehicles last week. They
went back and did a scheduled dive yesterday and when they pulled the
cars out of the water, they found human bones.
The discovery of two rusting vintage cars containing six bodies has
reignited the mystery of how three teenagers and three other people
vanished more than four decades ago.
Highway
patrol officers testing their sonar equipment Foss Lake near Elk City,
Oklahoma on Friday stumbled upon the rusting 1969 Camaro and a Chevrolet
dating back to the 1950s.
Inside
the Camaro were three bodies believed to be of local teenagers who
vanished after going out for a drive in 1970. Inside the Chevrolet were
three more bodies – thought to be a 69-year-old man and his two friends
who went missing in the state in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Police
say the Camaro matches the vehicle associated with the three missing
teenagers who disappeared on November 10 1970. They say they have
confirmed the identity of at least one of the victims however details
are yet to be released.
Authorities
have not formally identified all of the remains belong to but the local
paper has made a clear connection between the discovered Camaro and the
teens.
|
Jimmy Williams poses next to his then brand-new Camaro as a 16-year-old in 1970 |
The latest reports by local station KFOR states
that one of the victims in the car thought to have belonged to the
teenager has been identified but they are waiting to notify all of the
relatives of the victims involved before releasing any names.
Jimmy Allen Williams 16, Thomas
Michael Rios, 18, and Leah Gail Johnson, 18, all went missing after
going for a drive in Jimmy’s blue 1969 Camaro on November 20, 1970.
They
are still listed as missing persons and were thought to have been
headed to a football game in nearby Elk City but also could have
detoured to go hunting at Foss Lake.
Local woman Kim Carmichael was a friend of the Camaro's owner, 16-year-old Jimmy Williams.
She told Oklahoma's Newsnine.com: 'I just remember how devastated everybody was
'We lived in a little town ... Nothing like that ever happened in Sayre.
At
the time of the disappearance, Ms Carmichael's father was the
undersheriff in nearby Beckham County where the teens were last seen.
He died in 2003 never knowing what happened.
Ms
Carmichael added: 'He said there was nothing ... There were no leads,
no nothing. He said it was just like they vanished into thin air.'I
can't imagine what [Williams'] family was going through if I could see
what my dad was going through.'
Oklahoma Highway Patrol said they are hoping the
discovery will offer some relief to families who may have gone decades
wondering where a missing loved one was.
Source: UK Daily Mail
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