Skeletal remains found in car submerged for 42 years in South Dakota creek

Police in South Dakota on Tuesday discovered skeletal remains in the car of two 17-year-old girls who disappeared 42 years ago.

Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson of Vermillion were last seen driving the beige 1960 Studebaker Lark to a party on May 29, 1971.

A fisherman spotted the car, wheels up, in a creek in Union County on Monday. A recent drought had lowered the water level enough to reveal the rusted and mangled heap.

Police recovered a license plate, which confirmed the car belonged to Miller’s grandfather.

The skeletal remains found inside the vehicle are being examined and the results have not yet been released.

Convicted rapist David Lykken, who was a classmate of the girls, was charged over their disappearance after clothing, bones, a purse and other items were found on his farm.

He was indicted on six counts of murder in 2007, but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors learned that another inmate had lied about Lykken confessing to the crimes.

The grisly find comes a week after similar discovery in Oklahoma where police found the remains of six people in two cars which had been submerged in a lake for decades.