The mystery of Foss Lake: Two sunken cars containing six bodies are found by chance after more than FORTY YEARS. But how did their passengers die?

They had lain undiscovered under an Oklahoma lake for over forty years.
And now the discovery of two rusting vintage cars containing six bodies has reignited the mystery of how three teenagers and three other people vanished more than four decades ago.

Highway patrol officers testing their sonar equipment Foss Lake near Elk City, Oklahoma on Friday stumbled upon the rusting 1969 Camaro and a Chevrolet dating back to the 1950s.


Inside the Camaro were three bodies believed to be of local teenagers who vanished after going out for a drive in 1970. Inside the Chevrolet were three more bodies – thought to be a 69-year-old man and his two friends who went missing in the state in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Grim discovery: Police found two cars at the bottom of a lake in Oklahoma during a practice run of new sonar tools

Three bodies believed to be those of local teenagers who disappeared in 1970 were discovered inside the Camaro

The other car - a 1950 model Chevrolet - contained three bodies believed to be those of Washita County residents who went missing in the early 1960s

Sheriff's team recover cars found with SIX skeletons at Oklahoma...

Police say the Camaro matches the vehicle associated with the three missing teenagers who disappeared on November 10 1970.
They say they have confirmed the identity of at least one of the victims however details are yet to be released.
Authorities have not formally identified all of the remains belong to but the local paper has made a clear connection between the discovered Camaro and the teens.
The latest reports by local station KFOR states that one of the victims in the car thought to have belonged to the teenager has been identified but they are waiting to notify all of the relatives of the victims involved before releasing any names.
Jimmy Allen Williams 16, Thomas Michael Rios, 18, and Leah Gail Johnson, 18, all went missing after going for a drive in Jimmy’s blue 1969 Camaro on November 20, 1970.

They are still listed as missing persons and were thought to have been headed to a football game in nearby Elk City but also could have detoured to go hunting at Foss Lake.

The bodies discovered in the Camaro are believed to be those of (L-R) Jimmy Williams, 16,  Leah Gail Johnson and Thomas Michael Rios who disappeared in 1970

Missing: Jimmy Williams poses next to his then brand-new Camaro as a 16-year-old in 1970

A 1950s Chevrolet similar to the older car which was believed to contain the remains of three people from Washita County, who went missing in the early 1960s

'It's just been under water for 40 years. It's a mucky mess,' Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples told KWEY radio.
In addition to the Custer County Sheriff's Department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, and the state medical examiner's office were on scene Tuesday.
Authorities discovered the accidentally as Betsy Randolph, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said dive teams were at Foss Lake conducting training with sonar when they came upon the vehicles last week.
'So they went back and did a scheduled dive today and were going to recover the cars. When they pulled the cars out of the water, the first one that came out they found bones in the car,' she said.

Other victims: Local news reports claim that the three people inside the Chevrolet were a 69-year-old man from Elk City and his two friends

Rusted: Police divers were sent down to investigate the cars before they were pulled out of the lake and the bones were discovered

Investigation: Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples said the decomposed nature of the cars made it difficult to positively identify them at the scene

The two cars are seen above. The remains found inside are to be turned over to the medical examiner's office who are expected to use DNA from surviving family members to identify the skeletons

When they pulled the second car out, another set of bones was discovered. The divers then went back in the water and searched around and found a skull, she said.

A 40-YEAR-OLD MYSTERY SOLVED?

Jimmy Allen Williams, 16, and his friends Thomas Michael Rios, 18, and Leah Gail Johnson, 18, disappeared on On Nov. 20, 1970.
Jimmy, who had a part time job at a grocery store, had bought himself a brand new Camaro muscle car six days earlier.
He told his parents he was going to a football game, but according to reports at the time, he backed up his car to the back door of the home and loaded several shotguns into the trunk with the help of one of his younger brothers.
According to one of his friends called Wayne, the three friends were actually going on a shooting trip.
Wayne said he was had planned to join them but changed his mind at the last minute because there was not enough room for him in the car.
The three teenagers never returned home.

The remains were turned over to the medical examiner's office who are expected to use DNA from surviving family members to identify the skeletons.
'We thought it was just going to be stolen vehicles and that's not what it turned out to be, obviously,' Randolph said.
Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples said he believes the bodies found in the Camaro are those of the three teens who went missing in 1970
He said: 'The decomposed nature of the cars makes it difficult to positively identify here at the scene.'
Local woman Kim Carmichael was a friend of the Camaro's owner, 16-year-old Jimmy Williams.
She told Oklahoma's Newsnine.com: 'I just remember how devastated everybody was
'We lived in a little town ... Nothing like that ever happened in Sayre.
At the time of the disappearance, Ms Carmichael's father was the undersheriff in nearby Beckham County where the teens were last seen.  He died in 2003 never knowing what happened.
Ms Carmichael added: 'He said there was nothing ... There were no leads, no nothing. He said it was just like they vanished into thin air.'I can't imagine what [Williams'] family was going through if I could see what my dad was going through.'
Oklahoma Highway Patrol said they are hoping the discovery will offer some relief to families who may have gone decades wondering where a missing loved one was.

Chance find: The two cars were discovered by Highway Patrolmen testing new sonar equipment at Foss Lake near Elk City, Oklahoma

Drudging up clues: There were five skeletons between the two cars

Scene: The cars weer found in Foss Lake near Elk City in western Oklahoma

Spokesman Betsy Randolph added: 'We're hoping these individuals, that this is going to bring some sort of closure to some families out there who have been waiting to hear about missing people,' she said. 'If that's the case, then we're thrilled we were able to bring some sort of closure to those families.'
The medical examiner had called a number of relatives of possible victims to the scene, many of whom said that they never lost hope.
'We never gave up. We always wanted some clue that somebody knew someone,' said Debbie McManaman, a possible victim's granddaughter.

Read more:

• NEW: Sixth body found in cars pulled from Foss Lake, one victim identified