Found Deceased SD - Pamella Jackson & Cheryl Miller, both 17, Vermillion, 29 May 1971 *car and remains found 2013*

[LaborDayRN]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...lve-missing-persons-case-in-south-dakota?lite

In an eerie echo of events earlier this month in Oklahoma, skeletal remains were discovered Tuesday in the car of two teenage girls who disappeared 42 years ago, a day after it was found wheels-up in a South Dakota creek, authorities said.

Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson, both 17 and both from Vermillion, in southeastern South Dakota, disappeared May 29, 1971, as they were on their way to a party, according to records on file with the Justice Department's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

More at link.....

From the article above:

In 2004, clothing, bones, a purse and other items were found on a farm belonging to David Lykken, a convicted serial rapist who was subsequently indicted on six charges of murder in the girls' disappearance.

It goes on to say his conviction on the murder of the girls was overturned, but never says who the clothing, bones ad purse belonged to. ????

 

[meanmaryjean]

Maybe these two stories- sad as they are- will help get some traction and get some of these ponds/ lakes/ creeks/ rivers searrched by volunteer fishermen. I suspect there are a LOT more of these cases then even we suspect....

 

[MNlady]

From the article above:

It goes on to say his conviction on the murder of the girls was overturned, but never says who the clothing, bones ad purse belonged to. ????

He was indicted on 6 counts but never convicted because the charges were dropped when they found out the other inmate made up the Lykins 'confession'. That says to me, IMOO, that the belongings found on his farm couldn;t be proved to belong to the girls.

 

[STEADFAST]

Skeletal remains have been found in the car. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...lve-missing-persons-case-in-south-dakota?lite

 

[MsFacetious]

I wonder if the boys were able to pinpoint where the girls disappeared?
If they were able to pinpoint an area close to the water it should have been searched. :twocents:

 

[Betty P]

Links to coverage in the local newspaper - The Argus-Leader. Lots of information and photos of the recovery

http://www.argusleader.com/viewart/...remains-found-vehicle-driven-by-missing-girls

Jackley said no further information will be released until an autopsy is completed and family members are notified. Limoges said the skeletal remains along with other pieces of evidence were being transported to a lab in Sioux Falls. He couldn’t say whether the remains belonged to one or more person.

“I want to get what we do have sent up to the lab and let them determine that,” Limoges said.

Members of both families were notified that human remains had been found in the vehicle, he said.

The car was located under a bridge over the creek

http://jhult.tumblr.com/post/62164231198/could-the-miller-jackson-disappearance-have-been-an

Families Yearn for Closure (from a Sept. 2004 article)

http://www.argusleader.com/article/...archives-Families-missing-girls-yearn-closure

 

[M86]

Were the items found on Lykken's farm ever proven to belong to the girls? If not then it does seem as if we can expect their remains to be found in the car.

To my knowledge, no... LE hasn't released that information about the items found on the Lykken farm. They called the findings "items of interest".

 

[M86]

I just wanted to post some of the local news links:

KSFY - Missing Teenaged Girls' Car Pulled From Brule Creek

KELO - Sherri Miller's Family Reacts To Discovered Car

KELO - Discovered Skeletal Remains Bring Mixed Reactions

KELO - Aerials Of Union County Recovery Scene

KELO - Friend: Discovery Could Bring Closure For Lykken Family

KELO - Lykken Accused, Never Convicted In Cold Case

KELO - Water Drained From Gravel Pit May Have Uncovered Car

Argus Leader - Bridge over creek where car found was inspected every two years

I didn't do any snips because KELO is very good about keeping past stories on their website. One of the articles I posted has links about this case dating back to 2004.

 

[MNlady]

I wonder if the boys were able to pinpoint where the girls disappeared?
If they were able to pinpoint an area close to the water it should have been searched. :twocents:

Article also says bridge was inspected every 2 years , , but car was found under the bridge?? It's been my experience that things aren't always done in SoDak as they are done in other states~! :banghead::facepalm:
Seems like the boys could have pinpointed it pretty close, doesn't it.

OT to MsF ~ I used to live about 20 miles from DeSmet SoDak~!! :seeya:
I always thought the Ingalls lived in southern MN. Maybe we didn't market it like DeSmet. :blushing:

 

[dogperson]

On the one hand, I am happy the mystery is solved because I've been following this case for a long time. On the other hand, it's very sad, because it seems like this could have been solved at the time. LE knew approximately where the girls disappeared on the road. I wonder if nobody thought to check the creek at the time, or whether there were any skid marks on the road or down the embankment to the river. Very sad that the families had to wait 42 years for this and that many relatives have passed on before now.

 

[Trident]

Between this and the lake in Oklahoma, it kinda gives literal meaning to the Bible where it says the dead shall rise.

 

[LucyOso]

CNN reports bones are found in the vehicle.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/24/justi...g-girls-car-found/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

 

[LucyOso]

This case doesn't make sense to me. No one will say how and why Lykken came to be the chief suspect. There are other things I wonder-Lykken was a classmate-were other classmates of Lykken and the girls interviewed-do they remember the girls being friendly with Lykken? Did the girls ever talk about him to their parents? Was Lykken hassling girls back then, in school?

More importantly, were those guys the girls talked to questioned thoroughly? Did they know Lykken? Where are they now? How did those girls disappear so quickly?

To my knowledge, no... LE hasn't released that information about the items found on the Lykken farm. They called the findings "items of interest".

"David Lykken's lawyers told us today that the only reason investigators searched the Lykken farm back in 2004 was because of a recovered memory from Lykken's sister. But they say investigators didn't find anything on the farm to tie Lykken to the crime" and "They only had enough evidence to charge Lykken after Aloysius Black Crow came forward with the supposed confession".

The below is interesting as well. I often wonder about missing people and reports of them being seen after disappearing and the validity of such dates....

"As for their theory about what really happened to the girls, Lykken's lawyers say old police reports indicate Pam Jackson's parents identified their daughter in a photo taken 6 months after the disappearance, and the case was originally closed after that."

http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/lawyers-black-crow-framed-lykken/?id=66734

 

[j.n.c]

This case is interesting to me because the Brule Creek cut through my grandfather's land, near Spink, a mile or so south of the incident and vaguely recall discussions around the missing teens. I think* this is the bridge where the car was found: http://binged.it/1bGB3RN

I'm glad they can be laid to rest.

*the address of one of the interviewees who said they lived right next to the recovery effort corresponds to this location.
edit: the address is on the bridge inspection report... so i did a lot of work for nothing

 

[attraversiamo]

Skeletal Remains Found in South Dakota Studebaker Tied to Teens Missing Since 1971

http://gma.yahoo.com/skeletal-remai...ied-teens-153010998--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[jonboy]

Gives a simple answer.

The boys leave north from St Mary's Church on 471st Ave, (County Road 1C), followed by the girls. The boys are deliberately going a little quickly for the girls as a tease to keep them interested. Both cars make the turn east onto 310th street but the girls are beginning to lose ground although they are probably driving a little faster than they normally would. The boys go past both entrances to the gravel pit and have to turn round. The girls see the first entrance to the gravel pit and think it is their turn. They brake hard (but maybe not even hard enough to lock the wheels); the car pulls sharply to the right (42 years ago, brakes weren't always that well maintained on 11 year old cars) possibly not only as a result of defective brakes but also because the driver is looking over her left shoulder to see the turn she thinks she missed. The Studebaker goes airborne over the west bank of Brule Creek, rolls over and wedges against the east bank, not to be seen for another 42 years. The boys turn round and drive back but the Studebaker is already submerged.

One question remains ... Why did Law Enforcement not thoroughly check the section of road between where the boys last saw the girls and where they noted that they could no longer see them? Over to you Mr. Union County Sheriff 1971.

 

[jonboy]

Should read east onto 310th street

 

[M86]

Gives a simple answer.

The boys leave north from St Mary's Church on 471st Ave, (County Road 1C), followed by the girls. The boys are deliberately going a little quickly for the girls as a tease to keep them interested. Both cars make the turn east onto 310th street but the girls are beginning to lose ground although they are probably driving a little faster than they normally would. The boys go past both entrances to the gravel pit and have to turn round. The girls see the first entrance to the gravel pit and think it is their turn. They brake hard (but maybe not even hard enough to lock the wheels); the car pulls sharply to the right (42 years ago, brakes weren't always that well maintained on 11 year old cars) possibly not only as a result of defective brakes but also because the driver is looking over her left shoulder to see the turn she thinks she missed. The Studebaker goes airborne over the west bank of Brule Creek, rolls over and wedges against the east bank, not to be seen for another 42 years. The boys turn round and drive back but the Studebaker is already submerged.

One question remains ... Why did Law Enforcement not thoroughly check the section of road between where the boys last saw the girls and where they noted that they could no longer see them? Over to you Mr. Union County Sheriff 1971.

Your theory makes the most sense to me. I forgot about "the boys" missing a turn.

Here is where the car was found: Google Maps - 310th Street over Brule Creek

 

[lisette]

So hard to understand why this car was not found quickly after the incident...I mean even if it were completely submerged, there was every indication by the boys' and girls' routes that night that it could be in there...I'm sure the boys told them where they lost sight of the girls so the location had to be narrowed to that particular area. I just don't get why a thorough search was not conducted. It reminds me of the case within the last year in South Carolina where the two boys ran off the road into a creek on the way to Myrtle Beach. Friends and family persistently searched all possible routes until someone noticed clues that led to the discovery of the vehicle mostly submerged in a creek similar to this one. It's just sad that they were not found for so long.

 

[LucyOso]

So hard to understand why this car was not found quickly after the incident...I mean even if it were completely submerged, there was every indication by the boys' and girls' routes that night that it could be in there...I'm sure the boys told them where they lost sight of the girls so the location had to be narrowed to that particular area. I just don't get why a thorough search was not conducted. It reminds me of the case within the last year in South Carolina where the two boys ran off the road into a creek on the way to Myrtle Beach. Friends and family persistently searched all possible routes until someone noticed clues that led to the discovery of the vehicle mostly submerged in a creek similar to this one. It's just sad that they were not found for so long.

BBM. This has been asked several times. There are a couple of things I can think of as to why... The area would definitely be less developed then it is now. So when we see where the car is found, it seems an obvious place to look, but, it might have looked very different 40 years ago. Also, water levels were very different 40 years ago. One thing interesting about bridges is due to the way water is forced and shunted under them, they can create unnaturally deep areas and pockets near or around them. They aren't usually surveyed frequently. So, if the creek was 6 feet deep in 1920 or so when the bridge was built, it could easily have eroded underwater places that are 10-15 feet deep unbeknownst to people. Sometimes silt or debris can create a false looking bottom as well. So the sheriff, assuming the water is 6 feet deep, wouldn't "see" a car that would be obvious it that shallow of water and not think to look more or send in a diver. If the girl's car was airborne and they didn't brake, you might not see the obvious tire marks indicating they went off the road.