Family members of three missing men in North Carolina may have answers after police say they found human remains in a creek.
The Washington Police Department received a sonar footage tip Jan. 19, showing a vehicle may have been underwater in Jack’s Creek, according to a Feb. 12 news release. The department believes what was found submerged in the waterway might crack a 41-year cold case.
Three men — William Clifton, David McMicken and Michael Norman — went missing Dec. 10, 1982, according to the department. They were last seen together at a bar before they disappeared, WITN reported.
Clifton’s daughter, Lea Rose, told WITN she remembered going to see Christmas lights and Santa Claus with her dad, mother and sister before he went out with his friends for the night.
But the friend group never returned to their homes.
More than four decades later, a dive team was sent into the creek to investigate, police said.
The team found dilapidated pieces of a vehicle — the drivetrain and part of the frame were all that was left — submerged under 12 to 15 feet of water, according to the department. Divers also discovered human remains, which were brought up to land, police said.
The vehicle parts belonged to a 1975 Chevrolet Camaro, the car the men were driving when they went missing, according to police.
To further investigate the site, investigators dammed the creek that afternoon and pumped water out of it for almost a whole day so they could do a more thorough search for human remains, according to the department.
More human remains were pulled from the creek once enough water was drained, police said.
The department said it was “confident” the remains were the three missing men from Beaufort County.
“It is very emotional for all of the families but it did bring a sense of relief and I know everyone is still grieving,” Rose told WITN. “The grieving process is starting all over again for three families.”
The remains were sent to the medical examiner’s office in Greenville to verify if they are Clifton, McMicken and Norman, police said. Further investigation will depend on comparing the remains’ DNA to that of the men’s family members, according to the department.
Washington is about 110 miles southeast of Raleigh.
