Car Found in Canal Linked to Couple Who Vanished in 1978

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Sun Jan 25, 2015, 03:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Car Found in Canal Linked to Couple Who Vanished in 1978

The Associated Press January 23, 2015 Updated 3 hours ago

SUNRISE, Fla. — Relatives of two Florida teenagers who disappeared 36 years ago are grappling with a break in the case after a car and human remains were found in a canal.

Harry Wade Atchison III, 19, and Dana Null, his 15-year-old girlfriend, went to a concert by the rock band Foreigner in October 1978 and were never seen again. Leads on the case have come and gone over the past three decades but none as profound as those that emerged this week in Broward County.

A South Florida Water Management District worker doing routine maintenance Wednesday on a canal in Sunrise found a mangled 1969 orange Dodge Cornet, which authorities then confirmed was the one driven by Atchison. Then on Friday, Broward Sheriff's Office divers found human remains nearby in that canal.

Those remains have not yet been identified, but the possibility they are of Atchison and Null is bringing both relief and renewed feelings of despair to their loved ones.

They mean Dodge Coronet, but they'll figure that out. This reminds me of the car found in a reservoir, I think, in Oklahoma last year. That was a Camaro, wasn't it?

{ETA: two cars, one a '69 Camaro, as I had thought, in 2013, Duckhunter935's link reports.}

I started this in LBN, and then I noticed that the story came out yesterday. Here's another link:

Car found in Florida canal linked to teens missing since 1978

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A car found in a Florida canal belonged to a young man who disappeared in 1978 with his 15-year-old girlfriend, police said.

Harry Wade Atchison III, then 19, and Dana Null, a freshman at Plantation High School, were last seen in October 1978 at Atchison's trailer in Broward County. Friends who had attended a rock concert in Hollywood, Fla., with them said they got into an argument and then drove off together.

The remains of Atchison's 1969 Dodge Coronet were found Wednesday in Sunrise in western Broward County by a South Florida Water Management District worker. By late Thursday, no human remains had been discovered.

Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, said the car's rear end is buried deep in the mud and may not be recoverable. But much of the Cornet was pulled from the canal Thursday, and investigators were able to locate the vehicle identification number and identify it as Atchison's.

[cwydro]

1. I remember that.

Yikes.

[Duckhunter935]

2. Two cars found in Oklahoma

Six people, very sad
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bodies-in-oklahoma-submerged-cars-linked-to-69-70-missing-cases/

[braddy]

3. Carnival of Souls