Identified! ID - Nez Perce Co., WhtMale 229UMID, 18-99, in Snake River, Jun'82 Dewayne Surls

[johnnyhands]

Here is a modern day case where the woman's body was found in her car underwater near the crash site. Obviously the water was not as high this year. Body of missing Idaho woman found in her vehicle in Salmon River after U.S. 95 crash - East Idaho News

From this article:

"Doug Bishop of United Search Corp, a nonprofit search organization based in Oregon, used a side scan sonar being towed by a jet boat to locate the vehicle nearly a fourth of a mile downstream from the apparent crash site, according to the release."

Note it says the crash happened (most likely) on May 22, and the article was written on July 1, but in five weeks or so, the vehicle had moved only a quarter mile in the river. Similarly, there may be a thin hope in the 1982 case that perhaps the youths' car perhaps didn't travel all that far before coming to rest on the bottom - which could make it a smaller range to search from where the crash occurred.

But after over forty years and forty rainy seasons of powerful currents that may just be wishful thinking - the car may be in many pieces by now. I'm guessing the search team mentioned in the article has plenty of anecdotal evidence in its search experience of finding submerged vehicles - to have a better idea just how wishful.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[Aurora90]

@imstilla.grandma Did you mean to put this video here? I'm struggling to see the connection.

 

[breachtones]

Someone's uploaded an image of Dewayne to Ancestry, that's him on the far right. I'd generally be hesitant to post a family photo but considering it's publicly available I reckon it's alright. I still think about this case and it still baffles me.