A scuba diving YouTuber may have cracked the cold case of two Tennessee teens who disappeared 21 years ago after discovering the car they were last seen in at the bottom of a local river.
Erin Foster, 18, and Jeremy Bechtel, 17, vanished on April 3, 2000, after leaving Foster’s home, according to the White County Sheriff’s Department.
Sheriff Steve Page said in a news release members of Foster’s family alerted him on Nov. 28 about YouTuber Jeremy Beau Sides, who uses sonar technology and scuba dives underwater to try and solve missing persons cases on his channel “Exploring With Nug.”
He came to Sparta, Tennessee, last month to search for the car the teens were last seen in.
Page contacted Sides and told him to search around Highway 84 in the Calfkiller River, in the area where the couple went missing.
On Nov. 30, Sides searched in that area and discovered a vehicle — Foster’s rusted Pontiac Grand Am submerged in the river.
Page and investigators arrived on the scene and said the vehicle matched that of Foster, the sheriff said in a news release.
Human remains were found in the vehicle and will be sent for genetic DNA testing and potential comparisons with dental records, investigators told CBS affiliate in Nashville WTVF. The families of Foster and Bechtel were notified of the discovery.
“I’m lost for words. I’m so glad I could find them. I’m so sad that that’s where they ended up. I can’t believe — it’s been over 20 years that they’ve been sitting there waiting for someone to find them,” Sides said in his YouTube video.
Officials are investigating to learn how the car ended up in the river.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
