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Two teens went missing 21 years ago. A scuba-diving YouTuber solved the cold case.
Morning Mix
Two teens went missing 21 years ago. A scuba-diving YouTuber solved the cold case.
By Jaclyn Peiser
December 10, 2021 at 6:48 a.m. EST
Ronnie Bechtel heard his son’s voice for the last time around 9 p.m. on April 3, 2000. Jeremy called to ask his father for a ride the next day, but when Ronnie arrived, Jeremy was nowhere to be found.
Jeremy’s friend, Erin Foster, was also missing. Her brother, Will, was probably one of the last people to see her. Erin, 18, and Jeremy, 17, picked up Will from an arcade that night and dropped him off at home before they headed back to a party. Erin never returned.
For the next two decades, the Bechtel and Foster families relived those final days on a loop — trying to piece together what could have happened that night and holding out hope that the two friends would one day return home. As they attempted to cope with the lingering mystery, their neighbors in Sparta, a small town in central Tennessee, whispered rumors and steered investigators in wrong directions.
“They were murdered,” some said.
“No, they ran away to Florida.”
“I heard they were involved in a drug operation gone awry.”
The theories were finally silenced earlier this month when Jeremy Sides, a scuba-diving YouTuber who solves cold cases, called White County Sheriff Steve Page to report that, after diving in a local river, he had found Erin’s car with human remains inside.
“I was in doubt until I got there and ran the tags,” Page, who took office in 2018, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I made a promise to the [Foster] family that as long as I was sheriff I’d be looking for these two kids. I did. I have.”
Now, the two families are grappling with grief and closure — how do they reframe the narratives that ran through their minds for so many years? Jeremy and Erin were not brutally murdered. They did not run away. It was probably a freak accident.
{snip}
On the evening of April 3, 2000, Jeremy went with Erin to a party in a rural part of town, Page said. Their parents suspected something was off when the two weren’t home the next morning. Cecil, Erin’s father, was out of town for work that night but assured his wife, Leigh Ann, that Erin would probably be back in a few days.
After a week, the Foster family called police. From the start, law enforcement fumbled the investigation, Page and the families agreed. They never searched Erin or Jeremy’s rooms and didn’t bring their friends from the party into the station for questioning, Ronnie, 57, said.
{snip}
Gift article
https://wapo.st/3s04ETp
By Jaclyn Peiser
Jaclyn Peiser is a reporter on the Morning Mix team. She previously covered the media industry for the New York Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/jackiepeiser
Two teens went missing 21 years ago. A scuba-diving YouTuber solved the cold case.
By Jaclyn Peiser
December 10, 2021 at 6:48 a.m. EST
Ronnie Bechtel heard his son’s voice for the last time around 9 p.m. on April 3, 2000. Jeremy called to ask his father for a ride the next day, but when Ronnie arrived, Jeremy was nowhere to be found.
Jeremy’s friend, Erin Foster, was also missing. Her brother, Will, was probably one of the last people to see her. Erin, 18, and Jeremy, 17, picked up Will from an arcade that night and dropped him off at home before they headed back to a party. Erin never returned.
For the next two decades, the Bechtel and Foster families relived those final days on a loop — trying to piece together what could have happened that night and holding out hope that the two friends would one day return home. As they attempted to cope with the lingering mystery, their neighbors in Sparta, a small town in central Tennessee, whispered rumors and steered investigators in wrong directions.
“They were murdered,” some said.
“No, they ran away to Florida.”
“I heard they were involved in a drug operation gone awry.”
The theories were finally silenced earlier this month when Jeremy Sides, a scuba-diving YouTuber who solves cold cases, called White County Sheriff Steve Page to report that, after diving in a local river, he had found Erin’s car with human remains inside.
“I was in doubt until I got there and ran the tags,” Page, who took office in 2018, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I made a promise to the [Foster] family that as long as I was sheriff I’d be looking for these two kids. I did. I have.”
Now, the two families are grappling with grief and closure — how do they reframe the narratives that ran through their minds for so many years? Jeremy and Erin were not brutally murdered. They did not run away. It was probably a freak accident.
{snip}
On the evening of April 3, 2000, Jeremy went with Erin to a party in a rural part of town, Page said. Their parents suspected something was off when the two weren’t home the next morning. Cecil, Erin’s father, was out of town for work that night but assured his wife, Leigh Ann, that Erin would probably be back in a few days.
After a week, the Foster family called police. From the start, law enforcement fumbled the investigation, Page and the families agreed. They never searched Erin or Jeremy’s rooms and didn’t bring their friends from the party into the station for questioning, Ronnie, 57, said.
{snip}
Gift article
https://wapo.st/3s04ETp
By Jaclyn Peiser
Jaclyn Peiser is a reporter on the Morning Mix team. She previously covered the media industry for the New York Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/jackiepeiser