Amos Shook Death - After 43 years, the mystery of a man who had gone missing since 1972 has finally been solved. On Tuesday, the remains of Air Force veteran Amos Shook was found inside a car on the bottom of Lake Rhodhiss in Caldwell County.
Caldwell County authorities found Amos Shook's remains inside a green 1968 Pontiac Catalina. The vehicle reportedly matched the model of the car that Shook, then 44, drove when he went missing on Feb. 19, 1972.
The mystery of the Amos Shook death was solved after divers made use of advanced sonar technology to locate the body in the Pontiac, located about 30 feet deep in the lake.
The human remains resolved the Amos Shook death mystery since it contained the retiree's wallet and identification.
Body found after 43 years. Amos Shook. @wcnc pic.twitter.com/vE7eD9UpIf
— RadBerky (@RBerkywcnc) July 22, 2015
"We found a wallet and some ID cards were in it. It amazed us how preserved that stuff was," according to Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones.
Participating in the search and recovery efforts for the Amos Shook death were the State Bureau of Investigations and the North Catawba Fire and Rescue Department.
It remains unknown how exactly Shook's car ended up on the lake, but investigators say the area is completely different now from what it looked like back then, according to WCNC.
"He had gone out for the evening and never came home, there was no trace of him after that," said Det. Sgt. Shelly Hartley of the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office.
Last month, Shook's daughter visited the county to see information about the Amos Shook death. The daughter, together with her family, had moved to Tennessee from North Carolina, reported NBC News.
No information on the Amos Shook death was provided to the daughter by the department.
"Records for that far back, there is not a lot that was left because I know we looked for it," said Jones.
However, the daughter was determined. This week, armed with only a description of Shook on the night of his disappearance, she asked the local fire department to search nearby Lake Rhodhiss, which is located a mile from the former home of Shook.
Authorities did not find signs of foul play, nor do they suspect suicide in the Amos Shook death, according to The Daily Mail.
According to Hartley, it would take a while before the coroner's office could positively identify the remains and determine how Shook died.
"We still have a mystery as to how he got there, we'll always wonder that," said Hartley, adding that she already notified Shook's daughter of what they found.
"She was just in tears, she was so grateful," she said.
On Friday, Shook's family will be coming to Caldwell County
"That's the same year I was born," Hartley said. "I'm very happy, 43 years later, to be able to give the family some closure."
