Human Remains Found In Car Pulled From North Carolina Lake Could Be Man Reported Missing In 1972 – Family Hopeful
The family of a man who was reported missing four decades ago has grown weary of not knowing and desperately wants the human remains found inside of a car that was pulled from a North Carolina lake to be those of Amos Shook.
According to WSOCT, divers discovered a 1968 green Pontiac Catalina submerged 30-feet at Lake Rhodhiss last Tuesday with human remains inside. They are believed to be those of Shook, a retired Air Force sergeant who vanished without a trace 43 years ago.
Body found after 43 years. Amos Shook. @wcnc pic.twitter.com/vE7eD9UpIf
— RadBerky (@RBerkywcnc) July 22, 2015
A wallet with an identification card inside was also discovered in the mud-filled car.
On February 19, 1972, Shook left his home in Caldwell County to go out on a date, but never returned. His daughter, Pamela Shook Kolbe, 57, – who was 14-years-old at the time – was hanging out with friends before returning to her home at about 8 p.m.
Shook was nowhere to be found, but she eventually drifted off to sleep, believing that her father would be there when she awoke the next morning.
Car found in lake could explain man’s disappearance http://t.co/2fJo9wINO3
— HuffPost Crime (@HuffPostCrime) July 27, 2015
“I went to bed, and I didn’t think much of it, not until the next morning when I woke up,” Kolbe said. “It just felt like there was nobody in the house.”
Kolbe’s father vanished without a trace, and after four decades, she never gave up hope on finding her father. Last month, Kolbe contacted the Caldwell County investigators and asked them to continue investigating the cold case.
Without any tips, they made their way to Lake Rhodhiss where they discovered the human remains inside of a car that was submerged 30-feet. The human remains have since been transported to the State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
Dental records and the DNA of a relative may be used in order to determine if the remains are those of Amos Shook.
If the human remains are the man that went missing four decades ago, it will “put some closure on something they’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” said Sheriff Alan Jones.
“After 43 years, you don’t know what to say,” said Katie Shook, who was Amos’ wife when he disappeared. “It was such a relief that I totally went into shock when they said they had finally found him. All I can say is God answered my prayers that he would be found before I die.”
“As a family, we will work with the sheriff’s office to bring the case to a final resolution but for today, we say thank you for all the prayers and condolences we have received since the car was found,” the Shook family said in a statement.
Although Caldwell police officials have yet to determine how the car ended up under 30-feet of water, they do not suspect foul play nor do they suspect suicide.
[Image courtesy of David Lukacs / Flickr / Creative Commons]
