When fishermen on the Pecatonica River in Northern Illinois likely had no idea that their sonar discovery of a vehicle under the water would lead to a breakthrough in a nearly 50-year-old missing persons case. Authorities pulled a metallic brown 1966 Chevrolet Impala from the river and found the skeletal remains of two men who were last seen in 1976.
65-year-old Clarence Owens and 75-year-old Everett Hawley were last spotted leaving a farm auction, according to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. Somehow, the Impala they drove off in ended up submerged in a muddy riverbed eight feet deep, roughly 100 miles west of Chicago. Recovery crews retrieved over 100 bones from the sedan, which were identified as the remains of Owen and Hawley this week through DNA testing. Sheriff Gary Caruana told CBS News:
“This brings us one step closer to providing closure to the families of Clarence Owens and Everett Hawley who have waited many years for answers that have been affected by this tragic case.”
Solving missing person cases by finding submerged vehicles has become its own genre of YouTube video. Channels centered around search-and-recovery diving have cracked cold cases multiple times, including one channel that has solved 18 cases. Amateurs are able to offer families closure after months or years of police efforts falling short of finding answers.