Cold case grows hot
Duo ‘found’ after 21 yrs.
Authorities have reopened a cold case of two Tennessee teens who vanished more than two decades ago, thanks to a shocking discovery from a scubadiving YouTuber.
Erin Foster, 18, and Jeremy Bechtel, 17, have been missing since they left a White County home together to go to a party around 10 p.m. April 3, 2000, in Foster’s black Pontiac Grand Am, authorities said.
But for years no new case evidence has emerged.
That all changed in November when YouTuber Jeremy Beau Sides made a grim discovery, a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am sitting at the bottom of Calfkiller River in Sparta, cops said. The car was later positively IDed as Foster’s and human remains were found inside the vehicle, NewsChannel5 reported.
Sides, who uses sonar technology to help crack cold cases, documented on his YouTube channel his discovery of the car, and it being pulled from the water.
“I’m lost for words,” Sides said. “I’m so glad I could find them. I’m so sad that that’s where they ended up. I can’t believe it’s been over 20 years that they’ve been sitting there waiting for someone to find them.”
Sheriff Steve Page confirmed the development and said in a statement that “further information will be released as soon as they become available.”
Remains from the car were sent to the county coroner for official identification, and families of the teens have been notified.
“It kind of seems like almost a dream,” Foster’s father Cecil told “Inside Edition.”
Adding to the shock, he said, is that he had gone fishing with his son many times over the years on that river.