A car connected to the cold case disappearance of two men in the 1970s was pulled from a Winnebago County river on Monday afternoon, according to WREX, the NBC affiliate in Rockford.
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Garuana told WREX that a 1966 Chevy Impala was recovered from the Pecatonica River in Pecatonica, a community of around 2,000 about 15 miles west of Rockford.
The Chevy is connected to the 1976 missing persons case of Everett Hawley and Clarence Owens who both vanished on Feb. 19 of that year.
The car, which was reportedly in mud about eight to 10 feet below the surface, was recovered by dive crews in about 15 minutes, WREX reported.
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“No case is ever done. My deputy chief of the detectives, he assigns cold cases and we keep drilling down on them," the sheriff said, speaking on his department's mentality of never quitting on a case until it's closed.
Caruna said authorities were working on a "missing persons investigation" and that more answers are expected soon.
