Police say teenage girls missing since 1971 died in car crash

ELK POINT, S.D., April 15 (UPI) -- Two teenage girls missing for 43 years were killed when their car crashed into a South Dakota creek, authorities said Tuesday.

At a news conference, investigators said bones found in a 1960 Studebaker Lark in a creek in Beresford, S.D., last year have been positively identified as the remains of Pamella Jackson and Cheryl Miller. The two 17-year-olds were last seen on May 29, 1971, heading to a party in a gravel pit.

Police said there were no signs of anything except a tragic accident. The car was found by a passerby in September in Brule Creek about half a mile from the girls' destination.

In 2007, David Lykken, who was already serving more than 200 years for kidnapping and rape, was charged with killing the teens, and investigators searched his family farm looking for evidence. The charges were dropped when investigators determined that a jailhouse snitch had faked a recording that showed Lykken apparently admitting he killed Jackson and Miller.

The remains found in the Studebaker were sent to a Texas lab for forensic examination.

[Sioux City Journal]