A group of volunteer rescue divers known for their YouTube channel may have cracked a decades-old cold case.
Divers from the group Adventures With Purpose said in a video on Sunday that they believe they discovered the remains of James Amabile, who has been missing since December 2003.
“We are confident that we have discovered not only Mr. Amabile’s vehicle, but his human remains as well,” diver Doug Bishop said in a video shared on the organization’s YouTube channel on Sunday.
Bishop said the divers discovered a car submerged in Darby Creek in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania, with human remains still in the vehicle.
Ridley Township Police Department was “notified immediately,” the group said in the caption for the video, “and through a joint effort together, we were able to identify and recover human remains from the vehicle.”
The group is still waiting on confirmation from the medical examiner. However, Bishop said, “we believe and the family believes that we definitely closed this case for them. His family is very extremely grateful for everything.”
A spokesperson for the group and for the Ridley Township Police Department did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. An attempt to reach Amabile’s family was unsuccessful.
Amabile’s family reached out to the diving group months ago, according to Bishop. Amabile told his babysitter that he was running late to pick up his daughters, and has been missing since. His family theorized that Amabile, who was diabetic, was disoriented due to low blood sugar and made a wrong turn, before driving into the river.
The group retraced the drive between Amabile’s home and the babysitter’s, pinpointing a Darby Creek marina. Using underwater sonar technology that wasn’t available at the time of his disappearance, they found Amabile’s car about 24 feet underwater. Human remains were still buckled in the driver’s seat.
The marina was redeveloped a few years after Amabile’s disappearance, Bishop said in the video, and builders had unknowingly drilled a pylon through the submerged vehicle while building the dock. Rapid currents and poor visibility further concealed the vehicle. Adventures With Purpose was able to recover most of the remains for identification.
Adventures With Purpose has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and is funded by donations and merchandise sales. The group facilitates volunteer diving expeditions to find clues of missing persons cases, free of charge for the victims’ families.
The group has helped to solve 20 missing persons cold cases since 2019, according to its website.
“At this moment we want to take a moment to express our sympathies to the entire Amabile family as they navigate this tragic outcome to a nightmare that has lasted 18 years,” the divers wrote in the YouTube video’s description. “We encourage each and every one of you to take the time today to hug your loved ones a little tighter and cherish the moments you have.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
