69 camaro found

[billfury]

Cold, wet cases: Oklahoma troopers stumble on six bodies in two cars at bottom of lake
By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News
September 18, 2013, 3:00 am NBCNews.com


Courtesy Elk City Daily News Law enforcement officers examine one of two cars containing skeletal remains found Tuesday at the bottom of Foss Lake in Custer County, Okla.Two decades-old cars containing six skeletons were recovered from a lake in a remote, sparsely populated area of southwestern Oklahoma, officials said Tuesday — potentially solving a pair of cold cases that have bedeviled local authorities for years.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials stumbled upon the mud-covered cars — a blue 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1950s-era car — while testing new sonar equipment during a training exercise last week at Foss Lake, near the tiny town of Foss (population: 157) in Custer County, authorities said.

After initially having reported that five bodies were discovered, Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples told The Elk City Daily News late Tuesday that a sixth set of remains had been found.

Officials at the scene were able to identify one of the three bodies in the Camaro, but no names will be released until family members are notified, the State Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff's office said.

KFOR-TV State troopers discovered the two cars Tuesday as they were training with new sonar equipment.Trooper George Hoyle, who was driving the boat that located the vehicles Sept. 10, told the Daily News that the two cars were side by side in about 12 feet of water.

"On the first pass, we found both cars," Hoyle said — but officers weren't aware of the remains, and the cars remained at the bottom of the lake until Tuesday.

The Camaro is believed to be associated with the disappearance of three students at Sayre High School: Jimmy Allen Williams 16, Thomas Michael Rios, 18, and Leah Gail Johnson 18. They were last seen on Nov. 20, 1970, in Jimmy's car — a blue 1969 Camaro, which was never found, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a bureau of the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice.

The federal database notes speculation at the time that the teens, who'd said they were going to a football game in Elk City, may have detoured to go hunting at Foss Lake, instead.

The second vehicle appears to be associated with the disappearance of a couple last seen in Canute, about 10 miles south of the lake, in the early 1960s, Peoples said. He said he had no further information about that case beyond long-ago-told stories. The missing persons database records no open cases earlier than 1969 in Canute or the surrounding county.

"In 1973, I worked for Beckham and Custer County as a state trooper, and I heard rumors that sometime in the early '60s there were two or three people in a car, and they were last seen in Canute," Peoples told the Elk City newspaper. "They were headed for Foss Lake and never seen again."

[billfury]

69 Camaro was new.I feel bad for the families having to go through this again.

[myk]

Not that I would, but maybe the surviving families can have genuine closure, now...

[Dino]

'no names will be released until family members are notified'  and then they go ahead and give us 3 names....ok

Very sad.  Having to die is bad enough but being murdered and dumped in a lake...

[djcarguy]

  pix looks like 3 or more cars recover??   i didnt read murder or foul play at all//?


    sounds like maybe a sneaker curve bye the lake got a few drivers by surprise for cars to land side by side in the lake. hit water and stun people ,panic and drown?? maybee



  ON a side note low mile like new CAMARO to bee at barrat jacksons autions soon,,yeah ,,tooooo soon ,just trying too look at bright side.been 43 yrs in the lake need a good laugh.. Iam sorry no ,i will   myself.

[Mike DC]

16yo boy with a brand new Camaro. 


Both cars being found right next to each other and the wrecks being 10 years apart?  Could be foul play but my money is on people just sliding off the road at night.  Mopars on original tires didn't handle very well and most other cars of the era handled even worse. 

[billfury]

lets see if this works.

 

[billfury]

I have video on my email,but having a hard time trying to post.

[djcarguy]

  well the back of the old 50es car is damaged   but not front of camaro??   lets see car with 3 people stops to neck at the lake, someone--oaklahoma oaky sees them sneaks up with his big bad hillbilly truck an pushes them into the lake  an tied the doors shut first. well anyone have more info on this event?//  sad they were so young in camaro ,but could be another case young drive an speed??


     i think cops an military should train at more lakes an rivers with this equipment.  was just a few yrs ago they found alot of stolen cars an 1 or more bodies in that river near midwest,damm i forgot now,think kansas or near there..

[Mopar Nut]

That's too bad for the families.

[Bandit72]

Theres a state lake not far from me that was dug in the early 50's, My dad tells me that right after it opened to the public a newly wed couple missed the turn and drove right off into it...they both parished.

[tan top]

    sad for the families , bit of a coincidence they in the same spot , although like what been said  , could of just lost it & come off the road & wrecked , both cars look like they took a hit  




http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/17/20547251-cold-wet-cases-oklahoma-troopers-stumble-on-six-bodies-in-two-cars-at-bottom-of-lake?lite

[Mike DC]

  
IMHO the families would probably be glad the kids were found.  At least they could get some closure.  

These kids have been missing for most of two generations.  I doubt anybody was still holding their breath hoping they would turn up alive.

   

[GOTWING]

this story would make an amazing true story movie although sad. 

[stripedelete]

Like others have said, it's probably one of those wicked turns that sneaks up on you.

Combine that with drugs and or alcohol.  I can imagine 3  guys coming home from the roadhouse one night or 3 high school kids firing up on the way to the game.

They probably hit the drink (no pun intended) at a high speed, provided they were conscious, the drug / alcohol impairment didn't aid in an escape.

It must be a very muddy bottom or they would have been spotted by plane at some point in 50 years.  But, at the same time I grew up around quarries.  We all knew where the cars got pushed over.  Finally, a white one landed on the HUGE under water stack of cars and a "non-local" spotted it.    Pulled cars out for about a week.   They started breaking up badly when they got too the early 50's.   So, the locals my have known there were cars down there.  They just may not have associated them with accidents or the disappearances.  

[bull]

They should have stored that Oklahoma City Plymouth in that lake. It looked about the same as these cars do.

[daveco]

I can't imagine how hard it must have been for the families all these years. To have loved ones simply disappear without a trace would just be horrible.

[Finn]

"NOS 69 camaro hood, perfectly straight, just slight surface rust...Asking $2,000 obi".

But seriously though, cool to see the pictures. I hope it brings the families some closure.

[Finn]

   sad for the families , bit of a coincidence they in the same spot , although like what been said  , could of just lost it & come off the road & wrecked , both cars look like they took a hit  




http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/17/20547251-cold-wet-cases-oklahoma-troopers-stumble-on-six-bodies-in-two-cars-at-bottom-of-lake?lite

In the video the roof on the camaro is no longer intact. Looks like they ripped it off or it caved in.

[JB400]

The Camaro split in half.  Other car looks like a 51 Olds.

[Mopar Nut]

Drowning would be the worst way to die.

[GOTWING]

the news said the road drives straight into the boat ramp ! 

[Baldwinvette77]

wow thats a pretty creepy sight. i know it sounds morbid, but i would like to see those cars in a museum rather than crushed

[GOTWING]

one link I found shows jimmy next to his Camaro when it was new, its blue with white nose stripe.

[Tilar]

one link I found shows jimmy next to his Camaro when it was new, its blue with white nose stripe.