Found Deceased SD - Pamella Jackson & Cheryl Miller, both 17, Vermillion, 29 May 1971 *car and remains found 2013*

[OkieGranny]

http://www.ktiv.com/story/25646373/2014/05/29/after-43-years-missing-south-dakota-teen-laid-to-rest

One of four songs played during Sherri's memorial service was "Bridge over Troubled Waters."

"It was a part of Sherri and Pam, that I felt had some very true words in there,” explained Allen.

After 43-years her family hadn't forgotten her and neither had her friends. About a dozen classmates attended the memorial service.

 

[KaaBoom]

This one still bugs me. I would still like to know how that car could sit in a few feet of water, for over 40 years in such an obvious place, without anyone finding it. I suppose we will never know. The people who might be able to answer the question are probably no longer alive.

I just have a feeling that this is not the entire story.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/crime/article/Judge-allows-release-of-documents-in-1971-case-5517838.php

Court documents that supported three search warrants in the investigation of two girls missing since 1971 can be unsealed but without the names and other identifying information of numerous reported victims of sexual assaults, a judge ruled late Friday.

Judge Steven Jensen granted an attorney general's office request to release redacted copies of the documents that another judge used in 2004 to grant the searches at the boyhood home near Alcester of David Lykken. Authorities said at the time that Lykken might have been involved in the disappearance of Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson as well as other unnamed people...

Jensen concluded the dismissal of the indictment and closure of the case both support the documents' release. All of the victims in the case agreed to it, as well, as long as identifying information is redacted.

 

[emeraldine]

1971 Disappearance of Elk Point, S.D. Teens Finally Solved Thanks to Drought

Jackson's late mother, Adele, told people the loss of a daughter was especially hard on her husband, Oscar.

"She said just about every night after supper, he'd go out driving around the countryside looking for that Studebaker," said Paul Buum, publisher of the local newspaper, the Alcester Union and Hudsonite.

Oscar Jackson died at age 102, five days before the car was found. An obituary noted that his daughter's disappearance was his "greatest sadness."

I'm glad it's been solved, despite such a sad outcome...but this is just horrible.

May they all rest in peace.

 

[OkieGranny]

Cold case documents reveal reasons why law enforcement pursued suspect

Jackley and his predecessor, Larry Long, have both maintained that law enforcement had good reasons for believing that Lykken was involved with the girls' disappearance.

"The search warrant contains serious allegations involving nine separate victims and a further look at why law enforcement should have been searching for two missing girls," Jackley wrote. "The release of this information neither changes my apology for the disruption caused to the Lykken family during the 2004 search, nor my position that the search was supported by the information known at that time. It is my hope that all families including these nine victims, the Jacksons, the Millers and the Lykkens can find some peace with the closure of this cold case," said Jackley...

In June of 1971, a neighbor to the Jackson family reported hearing a party line conversation a month before between Jackson and a man named "David." Jackson had discussed having a hangover. Jackson also had mentioned "David" slamming her hand in the car door during the conversation, and "David" said he'd wished he'd taken pictures of Jackson. The neighbor said he thought "David" was a student at the University of South Dakota.

 

[KaaBoom]

Cold case documents reveal reasons why law enforcement pursued suspect

I'm not impressed with their explanation. It just proves that if they coerce witnesses long enough, they can get them to say anything. A woman saw a car with dead bodies in it, on her property when she was 15 years old, and didn't report it to anyone. But over 30 years later she could tell investigators about it.:facepalm: Excepting that at face value is as bad as trying to get a convict to record a fake confession from another inmate.

Nothing in this report changes the fact that police blotched this investigation from the day the girls disappeared, until the day they were found. This was nothing but 40 years of police FAIL.

 

[Farmhand]

This one still bugs me. I would still like to know how that car could sit in a few feet of water, for over 40 years in such an obvious place, without anyone finding it. I suppose we will never know. The people who might be able to answer the question are probably no longer alive.

I just have a feeling that this is not the entire story.

I grew up a dozen or so miles from there. I remember hearing about this when I was a kid. You would think if LE would have looked a little bit in 1971 they would have found the car. A couple of scuba divers? This creek is nothing more than a drainage for some farm fields and in most years wouldn't be very deep. I suppose it would depend on how deep the hole was that the car ended up in. I am sure some years over the course of the past 40 this creek would have been near dry at some time. I would agree major fail by LE back in 1971. Which direction were the girls traveling? West to east?

 

[KaaBoom]

I grew up a dozen or so miles from there. I remember hearing about this when I was a kid. You would think if LE would have looked a little bit in 1971 they would have found the car. A couple of scuba divers? This creek is nothing more than a drainage for some farm fields and in most years wouldn't be very deep. I suppose it would depend on how deep the hole was that the car ended up in. I am sure some years over the course of the past 40 this creek would have been near dry at some time. I would agree major fail by LE back in 1971. Which direction were the girls traveling? West to east?

Yes, I believe they were traveling west to east, and went off the right side of the road. The hole couldn't be very deep. Since in low water the wheels were sticking out.

 

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Documentary Covers 1971 Disappearance[/h]

Rita Allen knows that there’s nothing she can do to bring her sister, Cheryl Miller, back into her life.
​

She can, however, tell her story. That’s what compelled her to participate in a documentary entitled "Gone" that will air at 8 p.m. Monday, July 31, on the Investigation Discovery channel.
​

"Teenagers Cheryl Miller and Pam Jackson go out to enjoy the first day of summer break in the small town of Vermillion, South Dakota and vanish," reads the description of this episode on the Investigation Discovery website. "Although rumors spread for years, the families never gave up hope. Then one day, the mystery is revealed."
​

http://www.yankton.net/community/article_706978e0-7410-11e7-88d7-27673e98a80f.html

 

[lindamichelle1]

Just finished the episode of Gone covering the girls disappearance, even as the episode started I was like they have driven into water. I cant believe they never found them earlier. Surely they could have sent divers into the water if it was where they would have been to go to the gravel pits. The episode was so heartbreaking, especially that the father died a few days earlier. And the poor sister who spent her whole life waiting for her to be found. ugh. cried my lil eyes out haha.
What a good show, would never have heard of this case.

 

[Mysteries1974]

I feel horrible about this case I always suspected foul play and I was completely shocked to Learn this was an accident. Anyway I am posting their Charley project links.

Cheryl Kay Miller – The Charley Project

Pamella Ann Jackson – The Charley Project

 

[CastlesBurning]

Local author of cold case books tackles 83 cases | KELOLAND.com

 

[JerseyGirl]

Major 'irony' as mystery of missing teens solved after 43 years

THE mysterious disappearance of two teen girls that puzzled cops for 40 years was solved by a curious member of the public after police spent years chasing dead ends and pushing falsehoods, a new b…

www.the-sun.com

 

[Richard]

Bumping thread up.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Award-winning journalist Lou Raguse has written a book that takes a deep dive into all of the facts of the puzzling case, Vanished In Vermillion: The Real Story of South Dakota’s Most Infamous Cold Case, which is due for release on Feb. 21.

Across its 384 pages, Raguse meticulously reconstructs Sherri and Pam's final hours and documents what he deems to be the "biggest law enforcement embarrassment in South Dakota history."

Had officers overseeing the case applied the same tenacity to their investigation as he did in putting together this book - conducting hundreds of hours of interviews and compiling crucial data - Raguse believes decades of heartache could've been spared.


Sherri Miller, 17, vanished in May 1971 while driving to a party in Vermillion, SD

Pam Jackson vanished alongside Sherri. The girls told their parents they were going roller skating but were actually going to an end-of-school-year party

Major 'irony' as mystery of missing teens solved after 43 years

THE mysterious disappearance of two teen girls that puzzled cops for 40 years was solved by a curious member of the public after police spent years chasing dead ends and pushing falsehoods, a new b…

www.the-sun.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A DEVOTED father who spent almost every day for 42 years searching for his missing daughter tragically died at the age of 102 just five days before her remains were pulled from a river.

Oscar Jackson searched for his daughter for 42 years but died five days before her remains were found

Pamella Jackson was just 17 when she seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth with her best friend Sherri Miller while driving to an end-of-school-year party in Vermillion, South Dakota, in the spring of 1971.

But for all that time, he'd been looking in the wrong place.

In reality, the girls' remains, and the 1960 Studebaker they had been driving in, were found just 100 yards from where the party was held on that fateful night in May 1971.

They never made it to their destination; they died in a roadway accident that sent their ailing Studebaker careening into Brule Creek.

Sherri and Pam's story - and the shambolic 40-year police investigation that followed their disappearance - has been revisited by award-winning journalist Lou Raguse in a new book, Vanished In Vermillion: The Real Story of South Dakota’s Most Infamous Cold Case.

Sad 'twist' after dad dies 5 days before missing daughter's bodies found

A DEVOTED father who spent almost every day for 42 years searching for his missing daughter tragically died at the age of 102 just five days before her remains were pulled from a river. Pamella Jac…

www.the-sun.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The disappearance of Pamela “Pam” Jackson and Cheryl “Sherri” Miller in 1971 which confused Vermillion police for 50 years until 2013 when the girls’ bodies were found in their car.

KARE 11 reporter, Lou Raguse, wrote the book, “Vanished in Vermillion,” in response to Pam’s brother-in-law asking for one article for them to find all the facts, to which Raguse wrote a book instead.

Vermillion police chief Crystal Brady was a detective during the search for the girls in 2004. She has also read the book and enjoyed what Raguse had to give the public. Brady said she appreciated the information that Raguse wrote, but said the book was limited to the perspective of the family for obvious reasons.

“I know that probably a portion of that is because of some of law enforcement not necessarily wanting to be interviewed for the book, which kind of makes sense,” Brady said. “And if you don’t give your, the people who do give their side their information ends up in the book.”

1971 Cold Case from VPD Perspective - The Volante

The disappearance of Pamela “Pam” Jackson and Cheryl “Sherri” Miller in 1971 which confused Vermillion police for 50 years until 2013 when the girls’ bodies were found in their car. KARE 11 reporter, Lou Raguse, wrote the book, “Vanished in Vermillion,” in response to Pam’s brother-in-law asking...

volanteonline.com

 

[Soulmagent]

The disappearance of Pamela “Pam” Jackson and Cheryl “Sherri” Miller in 1971 which confused Vermillion police for 50 years until 2013 when the girls’ bodies were found in their car.

KARE 11 reporter, Lou Raguse, wrote the book, “Vanished in Vermillion,” in response to Pam’s brother-in-law asking for one article for them to find all the facts, to which Raguse wrote a book instead.

Vermillion police chief Crystal Brady was a detective during the search for the girls in 2004. She has also read the book and enjoyed what Raguse had to give the public. Brady said she appreciated the information that Raguse wrote, but said the book was limited to the perspective of the family for obvious reasons.

“I know that probably a portion of that is because of some of law enforcement not necessarily wanting to be interviewed for the book, which kind of makes sense,” Brady said. “And if you don’t give your, the people who do give their side their information ends up in the book.”

1971 Cold Case from VPD Perspective - The Volante

The disappearance of Pamela “Pam” Jackson and Cheryl “Sherri” Miller in 1971 which confused Vermillion police for 50 years until 2013 when the girls’ bodies were found in their car. KARE 11 reporter, Lou Raguse, wrote the book, “Vanished in Vermillion,” in response to Pam’s brother-in-law asking...

volanteonline.com

This story and other ones like it are why this entire forum ,exists.

Thank you so much for taking the time to care about their story. Pam was so cute! If she was my friend ,I would be proud to go missing with her ! If i could not save her I could not live with that, So 2 girls gone ,while sad, seems more comforting in a weird way. I am glad she had Sherrie, and sad they did not get to grow up and put each others kids on the bus..


My face is wet.

 

[dotr]

May 17 2023

'Vanished in Vermillion' peels back layers of complexity in infamous South Dakota cold case

'Vanished in Vermillion' shows what happens when law enforcement makes critical mistakes in an investigation, and how those errors can impact the lives of those caught in the tangled web.

www.grandforksherald.com

'Raguse’s latest book, “Vanished in Vermillion,” peels back the layers of complexity that hide behind headlines. Through years of added research and interviews with those involved, Raguse tells the story in a way that captures the nuances of it all.'

'In 1971, Sherri Miller and Pam Jackson went missing in Vermillion, South Dakota. For years, the case was considered the state's most infamous cold case. In 2013, the mystery was solved when the Studebaker Lark driven by the girls was uncovered, upside down, in a creek near the area of their final destination. Their death was ruled an accident.
Photo courtesy of Vanished in Vermillion'