WebProNews

Tag: 1971 case

  • 1971 Disappearance Of Two Teenage Girls May Have Finally Been Solved

    The 1971 disappearance of two teenage girls from Vermillion, South Dakota hasn’t been on the public radar for more than 40 years. After all, even the families of the two girls would have given up after not hearing anything for more than four decades. Now those same family members may be able to find closure if remains found this month indeed belonged to the girls.

    News 4 KTIV is reporting that South Dakota authorities have scheduled a press conference for this afternoon in which they will discuss remains found last year. The remains were found in a Studebaker pulled from a creek after flooding followed by a drought unveiled the decades-old car. The remains were consistent with the story of how the two girls, Pam Jackson and Cheryl Miller, disappeared in 1971 after leaving for a party in the same car. Not wanting to leave anything up to chance, however, the authorities had the remains examined by forensic experts at the University of North Texas.

    Generally speaking, the family and authorities assume foul play when persons have been missing for this long. That appears to not have been the case in this particular incident though. The authorities report that the car was in third gear when it was recovered from the creek. In other words, the missing girls were likely involved in a tragic car accident that left them at the bottom of a creek. Of course, we can’t know for sure until the authorities release the forensic results. The remains could even belong to somebody else entirely, but all evidence at this point points to the remains belonging to the two girls.

    Here’s raw video of the car after it was pulled from the creek bed. The visible damage makes it appear that whoever was in the vehicle did not live after impact:

    If you want more details on the original case, here’s a TomoNews reenactment of the night the two girls vanished and the subsequent discovery of the car:

    Update: Argus Leader Crime Reporter John Hult was at the press conference where the authorities announced that the two girls died in a car accident. There was no evidence of foul play or alcohol:


    Image via TomoNews US/YouTube

  • 1971 Cold Case – Missing Teens’ Car Found

    1971 Cold Case – Missing Teens’ Car Found

    Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson went missing in 1971 when they were both only 17 years old. They were last seen driving a beige Studebaker Lark and headed to a party. Over the years, many rumors have surrounded the disappearances of the two teenagers. A A man already serving a prison sentence on unrelated charges was indicted for murder in the deaths of Miller and Jackson in 2007, but the charges were dropped after prosecutors found out that a supposed confession given to a fellow inmate was faked.

    In 2004 a cold case unit was formed in June 2004 to focus on unsolved suspicious deaths and disappearances in South Dakota. The 1971 case was one of the first ones investigated by the unit but was still unsolved.

    “A fisherman or hunter noticed a wheel in a small creek area, or embankment, in Union County, S.D.,” Sara Rabern, spokeswoman for the South Dakota Office of the Attorney General, said. “He contacted the sheriff.”

    “The division of criminal investigation was called in and they were able to determine that the license plate belonged to one of the missing girls’ grandfather,” Rabern said.

    Many people were curious as to why the car had never been spotted before now. Rabern said that the water levels were at a record low.

    “The police department called to let us know before the news came out,” a relative of Pamella Jackson said, asking that he not be identified by name because the family did not yet want to make a formal statement. “They just said they found the car. We know for sure it’s the car because the license plates are still on it.”

    “We’re kind of surprised that they found it, but we’re happy,” the relative said. “It’s one more piece of the puzzle.”

    Image from ABC News.