The mystery of what happened to Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson, two 17-year-olds from Vermillion, South Dakota who disappeared 43 years ago, has finally been solved with the release of new forensic evidence linking the pair to a submerged car discovered last year.
On May 29, 1971, the girls stopped to ask some boys for directions to a party, and the boys offered to lead them. However, the boys later said that when they looked into their rear-view mirror, the girls' 1960 Studebaker Lark was gone.
Then, in September last year, local fisherman discovered an upturned car sticking out of Brule Creek. Authorities said a summer drought finally exposed the missing car after more than four decades. The car was pulled free and police matched a hubcap and the licence plate to a Studebaker once owned by Cheryl Miller's grandfather. Inside, they found human remains.
Mechanical tests show the car was in third gear, the car's high gear, when it went off the road. This is consistent with an accident at high speed which likely caused the car to plunge into the creek.
The mechanical tests, the human remains and other evidence found inside the car have led investigators to conclude that the girls died as the result of an accident rather than foul play.
