Six skeletons found in cars pulled from Oklahoma lake
Heide Brandes
OKLAHOMA CITY — Reuters
Published Wednesday, Sep. 18 2013, 4:20 PM EDT
Oklahoma authorities said on Wednesday that they were working to identify six skeletons found in cars pulled from a lake in the remote southwestern corner of the state to determine if they are linked to decades-old missing persons cases.
Last week, Oklahoma Highway Patrol divers were testing new sonar equipment at Foss Lake when they stumbled upon two vehicles on the bottom.
On Tuesday, a blue 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and another car from the 1950s were recovered containing six skeletons, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.
The Custer County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on Tuesday that said one of the bodies had been identified, but no names would be released until family members were notified.
“Right now, the medical examiner’s office will rule whether or not there was a crime, if they can. You’re talking about decades-old skeletons here,” said Jessica Brown, public information officer for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. “We don’t know at this point whether this is a crime scene or not.”
Speculation centered on the Camaro as the vehicle in which three local high-school students were riding when they disappeared in 1970. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Jimmy Allen Williams 16, Thomas Michael Rios, 18, and Leah Gail Johnson 18, were last seen on their way to a football game in Elk City on Nov. 20, 1970.
Local media reported on Wednesday that the three teenagers were riding in Williams’ 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. The teens never arrived home that night and have not been located since.
Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples was quoted on Tuesday by local media as saying the second vehicle may date back to a cold case from the early 1960s. In that case, a car with two or three unidentified people was last seen in Canute, Oklahoma, about 20 kilometres south of Foss Lake. But the missing persons database has no records before 1969 for Canute.
The Custer County Sheriff and the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner could not be reached to comment Wednesday.
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