OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A YouTube diver who tries to solve cold cases found a car connected to Miriam Ruth Hemphill, an elderly woman who was reported missing in 2005.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems, Hemphill's husband last saw her in a 1999 Buick Le Sabre in July of 2005.
This week Jeremy Sides, a diver who runs a YouTube Channel searching for missing people, set up SONAR on his boat over the Melton Hill Lake. He said he found seven cars at the bottom of the lake.
He said that they started diving in the lake and investigated the cars. The third one they explored is the car police pulled out of the lake, which they say is connected to Hemphill's disappearance. Police began processing the car on Thursday.
Sides said he spoke to police about the possibility of finding Hemphill's body.
"There's a couple of cops that were soon to retire. They really wanted to know where she was before they retired," Sides said.
On Thursday afternoon, police said they found human remains inside the car.
Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist who's worked on hundreds of crime scenes, said there may not be much of the body left to identify. He said just the bones and the teeth will remain.
"Your best bet is teeth," Dr. Bass said.
If there are no dental records available, Dr. Bass said it would make it more difficult to identify the body.
"It's a puzzle," Dr. Bass said. "I'm going to give you these few bones, you tell me who it is."
Dr. Bass said forensic analysts will have to look at the bones for signs of surgery or fractures, and compare that with medical records while the person was alive.