WASHINGTON, N.C. (WNCT) — Washington Police Chief Phil Rollinson has confirmed the car found in Jack’s Creek last weekend belongs to one of the missing men in the 1982 cold case.
Rollinson said the VIN number matches the vehicle that went missing. It means officials are one step closer to solving a cold case that’s left three families without answers for more than 40 years.
“It was possible that they were going home from where they were coming from,” Rollinson said Tuesday.
The three men, William Clifton, 30, David MicMicken, 24, and Michael Norman, 32, were last seen in the same kind of vehicle after leaving a bar in Chocowinity on December 10, 1982. Investigators said they were driving a 1975 Chevrolet Camaro when they disappeared.
It was in such bad shape, it was hard to even identify that it was a vehicle at all, much less a ’75 Camaro,” Sidney Dive Team Captain John Scott Rose Jr. said.
Investigators said human remains were found inside the car during last weekend’s recovery.
Emergency crews, including the Washington Police Department, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the Sidney Dive Team, and others had been in the area of Jack’s Creek since last Friday morning searching for the vehicle. Shared sonar footage, including the discovery of a possible vehicle, led to the search.
“So it became a crime scene,” said Janet Woolard, owner of Woolard’s Automotive, which helped in removing the vehicle.
Right now, officials are not sure how many bodies were recovered from the remains removed from the water. The remains were sent to the medical examiner’s office in Greenville for DNA testing.
“I am confident that the human remains are probably gonna be the individuals,” Rollinson said. “I can’t say anything for sure until the DNA testing is complete.
The person who brought this case back to the surface, Jason Sourada, is from Myrtle Beach. He heard of this case and constructed a device that could dig deeper into finding the car.
“I wanted that feeling to be able to help someone find missing loved ones, but Jack’s Creek was along the route that they would’ve taken home, so I decided to put my remote-controlled solar boat in there because regular boats can’t access the area that I scanned,” Sourada said.
Police say 26 different local and state agencies were assisting in this case, and although it took more than two days to remove the car, in the end, it was worth it.
“It was something that needed to be done to give closure to these families,” Rollinson said.
Nái Remy
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