A young couple vanishes after a frightening car crash in South Dakota.
Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier
Victims disappeared in the winter
CASE DETAILS
On the morning of December 12, 1992, a car stopped at a remote intersection at the edge of the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in Lake Andes, South Dakota. It was cold and the road was icy.
Bodies were found in the spring
The driver was 20-year-old Arnold Archambeau. One of the passengers was his girlfriend, 19-year-old Ruby Bruguier. The other passenger was Ruby’s cousin, 17-year-old Tracy Dion. All three had been drinking when the car crashed in a frozen ditch.
Tracy recalled what happened:
“We came up to that stop sign. That’s all I remember is just him looking and, saying there are no cars and him spinning out from the stop sign. And it was just like the snap of a finger and the next thing you know, we ended up in the ditch. I was upside down in the ditch and Ruby and I was in the car you know. Arnold wasn’t in the car. I don’t know where he was. Ruby was crying. She was saying oh my God, oh my God. She just kept hitting the car. The next thing I know, the door, it was open a little ways and she had enough room where she slid out. And then so I was going to reach over and then it was just like that, the door went shut.”
By the time help arrived, Tracy was the only person still in the car. For some unexplained reason, Arnold and Ruby had abandoned her.
Ruby Bruguier
By daybreak, the police had already searched the area. Although the ice underneath the car was frozen solid, they feared that Arnold and Ruby had wandered off and fallen through the ice at another location.
Bill Youngstrom was a Deputy for the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Department at the time of their disappearance:
“We walked around the ice part. We had one officer walk on the opposite side of the railroad tracks, thinking maybe they wandered off toward the lake area, which was also frozen. I’ve been to a number of accidents where there hasn’t been somebody around. The driver hasn’t been there, no passengers there. And a lot of times it’s because they’ve been partying. Out drinking. I mean we do have a DWI law. That was initially my first thought. Maybe Arnold was out drinking and didn’t want to get arrested, so we figured he’d show up in a few days.”
Arnold’s aunt, Karen Tuttle, did not accept that theory:
“I knew he wouldn’t hide, he would’ve come home to us or called us and told us I’m over here don’t worry about me. But we never heard anything from him.”
Arnold Archambeau
Over the next three months, Deputy Youngstrom investigated every possible lead. Day after day he came up empty. Then the spring thaw arrived. In early March, a passing motorist saw a body in the ditch, just 75 feet from the accident site. It was Ruby Bruguier. Deputy Youngstrom witnessed a gruesome scene:
“Her glasses were missing. Both shoes were missing. Her clothes were in tact. It appeared to be the same clothes that she had on the night of the accident. But the body was very decomposed. It was hard to recognize. And in fact we had to get down to look at a tattoo to get a positive identification of the body. At that time, our department decided that we would start pumping the ditch out. And about noon the next day we found the body of Arnold submerged in the water, about 15 feet away from where we found Ruby. Arnold’s body was very well kept. His skin color was fine. He was not frozen to the ground. The clothes were not frozen to the ground. There is a question mark as far as in our investigation if he was wearing the same clothes that he was the night of the accident.”
The bodies were immediately autopsied but there was no way to determine the time of death. The coroner concluded that Arnold and Ruby had both died of exposure. But Deputy Youngstrom suspected foul play:
“Death by exposure is like they froze to death. I cannot actually buy that. They may have froze to death. But they didn’t freeze to death at that ditch. It’s impossible that they could have been there the entire three months. I myself personally walked that ditch several times during that period. I’ve gotten written affidavits from people that’s also watched, walked it, people that have nothing to do with the case. They couldn’t have been there. They couldn’t have missed.”
Deputy Youngstrom was further baffled by the discovery of two items that seemed to support the theory that Arnold and Ruby had not died in the ditch:
“We found a tuft of hair alongside the road. This hair was later determined by the forensic laboratory to belong to Ruby Bruguier. That hair couldn’t have stayed there for three months. In my opinion, it was when whoever brought the bodies back to the ditch, that’s when that piece of hair fell off of Ruby. At the time we pulled Arnold’s body from the ditch, I found a set of keys in his pocket, the keys were a car or vehicle key. And what appeared to be two house keys. I still have these keys in my possession. And to this day I have not found the vehicle nor that house that these keys fit.”
Soon there was another startling revelation. A witness claimed to have seen Arnold, accompanied by three other people on New Year’s Eve, almost three weeks after he was reported missing. Authorities brought the witness in for a polygraph exam. She passed.
But how did the bodies of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier end up in the very same ditch where they crashed their car three months earlier? Ruby’s father, Quentin Bruguier, had his own theory:
“They had to die someplace else. Somebody had to come and put them back in there again, to make it look like that’s where they died.”
Were Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier victims of foul play? How and why their bodies were discovered in a ditch 75 feet from the crash site remains a troubling mystery.
Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season seven with Robert Stack and in season three with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.
SUBMIT A TIP
Just a Theory
The biggest thing that makes me wonder about this is the eye witness who positively identified Arnold 3 weeks after the accident. They made it clear that she knew Arnold and the people in the car with him. She passed a polygraph and the people she identified did not. There’s definitely more to this story. It’s too much of a coincidence that this witness would say she saw Arnold and randomly pick out these people (out of everyone on the rez). Then those same people end up failing a polygraph. If they are still around they have info.
My theory is I still think it’s an accident. Arnold probably went for help, not knowing the others were still alive. There’s people who will drink and drink and lose track of days, weeks, etc….. I think he probably felt so much guilt, and the tragedy of the accident, made him lose it. He probably asked his friends to help him lay low for awhile and kept drinking. Eventually, he took off from them, ending up back at the car accident site wanting (or needing) to be with his girlfriend.
I think his girlfriend died that night, probably trying to follow Arnold. I don’t think she intentionally left her cousin. I think they were very drunk. Maybe even blackout mode. She was more worried about Arnold and maybe saw him walking away so she followed him.
Unfortunely, people die of exposure all the time while drinking. Eventually, everything froze over her until Spring.
ME!! Tracy St Claire
If anything
Winchester
What if Ruby was trying to fake her and Arnold’s deaths, and couldn’t find a body to match his, so really killed him to get away from her life.
Ella Quient
All respect to you, but that wouldn’t explain why she was more decomposed that he was.
Danny
The bodies were found in the ditch/ravine when it thawed so that’s where I believe they were the whole time. Who’s going to take a 300-pound guy and move his dead body around town when spring comes months later? Ridiculous. The police missed them and had to say otherwise. Would be nice if they had taken photos of the scene and ditch, or if they did, I’d like to see them.
Chuck D
This is just a case of the police not doing the right thing and admitting that they missed those bodies or didn’t even look in that area. I don’t believe that I have ever known the police to ever just admit that they screwed up. They’d rather claim some killer is out there on the loose. JMO.
Anonymous
In South Dakota the snow can be very deceptive. You can drive by a 100 foot ditch and it will look like flat land. You will see snow next to a sign even and parallel with the main road. And have to look at the entire landscape to see that ditch. You can snow plow a parking lot, and by the time you’re finished, it will look like you didn’t even do anything. Now back then they didn’t have cellphones. The rich had car phones, but that was it. You physically had to walk for help back then. And underneath that snow was mud. Enough to lose a shoe in. The police only searched the parameters. It was too dangerous to go in the ditch where they were at. Even in the spring they couldn’t just go in it. They had to drain it.
Anonymous
I disagree with the police on this case. And I’m skeptical if they even walked that ditch like they claim to have. The mud was very submerged. You can easily lose a shoe in it. In fact the ladies shoes may still be in that mud somewhere. She obviously was able to pull herself out. The gentleman was not. When things cleared out, you would have animals scavengering, they may have picked at it dropping parts as they flew away. I’ve lost a shoe in submerged mud before. It was a heck of a reach to retrieve it. When Moses crossed the Jordan he specifically mentioned dry land. Even when water leaves an area it can take years to be fully walkable. The cops are very good at what they do. They are very caring people. But they completely missed key details. And where not as thorough as they made themselves out to be.
Matt Horned Eagle Sr
The below paragraph was taking from the above story. This is a close knit small town, everyone knows everyone. How did this girl see Arnold 3 weeks after the wreck? How did she pass the polygraph? Something doesn’t add up?
Chief Joc-O-Sot and CornStalk will deliver.
Soon there was another startling revelation. A witness claimed to have seen Arnold, accompanied by three other people on New Year’s Eve, almost three weeks after he was reported missing. Authorities brought the witness in for a polygraph exam. She passed.
Anonymous
The bodies would have floated it dumped in water. They were stuck in mud and the police actually had to drain water to find a victim.
Anonymous
Arnold was a very big guy. To hold him in a freezer without murdering him would have been very difficult. The medical examiner didn’t find anything to suggest a homicide. If two witnesses say they didn’t see him, they offset the one witness that says they saw everyone together. No matter where you go there is always someone that reminds you of someone at home. I think it was just mistaken identity. The other witnesses may have been nervous when asked that question on the polygraph. If you are nervous, you will fail a polygraph test.
Patrick
Hard to believe at the early hours, in the blistering cold a killer was prowling and happened to find them. It’s possible they wandered to someone’s place and were murdered and brought back but highly unlikely. Maybe they took there own lives knowing the trouble they’d be in? I tend to think they were in the ice but were missed. It’s Unsolved so who knows? Phenomenal show. So happy seasons are available now, I used to watch bootleg copies.
eve lee
a family member did say arnold wouldn’t do that without telling anyone, plus with it being not that big of a crime it is highly unlikely they would kill themselves to get away and just like her family member by herself.
Anonymous
I still can’t believe the police searched that without getting stuck in the mud themselves.
Anonymous
The snow was actually a good cushion for the car. They should have stayed in it. Many people have survived car accidents just because the car landed on snow instead of land. But unfortunately they didn’t have cellphones with a GPS back then.
Patrick
Hard to believe at 6am, in the blistering cold a killer was prowling and happened to find them. It’s possible they wandered to someone’s place and were murdered and brought back but highly unlikely. Maybe they took there own lives knowing the trouble they’d be in? I tend to think they were in the ice but were missed. It’s Unsolved so who knows? Phenomenal show. So happy seasons are available now, I used to watch bootleg copies.
Holmes
P.S. The frozen water in the ditch would have had a high sodium chloride/magnesium chloride content since it would have gotten runoff from the roads, which I assume are regularly salted.
When you take that into consideration, it makes it even more likely that the body heat of the two would have sufficed to liquify the ice enough for it to envelop them. The ice-melting effect of salts is not only dependent upon temperature, it depends upon things like whether temperature is in flux or stable, it depends upon whether there is any liquid water available to act as a medium for the salt to mix into a solution. Essentially, if you take a body of ice that has magnesium chloride interspersed so its freezing point is now right around 10F, and if you could magically turn every 100th atom into a liquid, it would essentially chain react and they would all melt and remain fluid until the system once again became stagnant. This is the difference between a slush and a solid piece of ice. This is the reason why slushie machines in a 7-eLeven require constant agitation. The addition of guar gum and agitation enables you to cause a substance that is below the freezing point of water moving like a fluid. A slush is a great many pieces of frozen water, kept from solidifying by their constant collisions.
I hope this explanation is satisfactory and brings some comfort to the surviving family.
ME!! Tracy St Claire
They don’t salt in SD. Farm land, you know. They put down sand I’d anything
Holmes
I come bearing a solution to this mystery. No, no one killed them at a different location and dumped the bodies there later thinking it would fool anyone.
Arnold and Ruby, being inebriated, and having suffered head injuries, managed to walk a short distance away from the vehicle and were not really in any condition to remember they had a passenger, much less pull her from the vehicle. Arnold made it only a few feet, to a part of the ditch where the water/ice was relatively deep (remember, the deepest section was about 3 feet deep, just deep enough to conceal a body.) Ruby’s body, mind you, was found to be in a more advanced state of decomposition and her body was found closer to the periphery of the ditch where the water was more shallow, and would therefore have thawed earlier and with greater frequency in days before the start of Spring. The bodies were discovered on March 10th.
I propose the following: Arnold and Ruby, in a dissociative state, lied upon the ice with severe head injuries. Their head injuries caused their unconsciousness for a sufficiently length of time for hypothermia to set in. Their residual body heat melted the ice in the immediate area surrounding their bodies. Over a period of hours, they gradually “sank” into the thin layer of ice, now temporarily turned to slush. Once submerged in the slush, they drowned, already in a coma from hypothermia. The total heat in a rather husky man or woman’s body, if the ice is around say, 10 degrees Fahrenheit, with the body starting out at 98 degrees Fahrenheit, is sufficient to melt a thin body of ice.
I propose that their residual body heat provided just enough heat to melt the ice in the immediate area around their bodies and that the ice re-froze rather quickly, entombing the bodies before the wreck was discovered hours later. This possibility was likely not considered because the police are not exactly known for their scientific acumen (and there may have been an assumption that the ice was thicker than it was in reality.) In fact, the ice may have been only about a foot thick with a mixture of mud and quicksand beneath that. Ruby’s body partially defrosted repeatedly in late February or early March while Arnold’s body was in a section of the ditch where he remained frozen until essentially the exact time the bodies were discovered, resulting in his corpse being hermetically preserved.
Patrick
Brilliant explanation, I agree. I don’t think someone fiddled with their bodies moving them around town. I think they fell through the ice and it re-froze. The Police missed them, couldn’t see them under ice until it melted. They were drinking heavy until the early morning, that with the accident put them in a coma like state almost I’d guess and they wandered off.
Anonymous
The police where just covering for themselves. If they honestly knew for certain that the bodies where not there, it would be a for sure homicide. But I don’t find any evidence that they searched there. That area was so dangerous people could have died looking for them. 87 people died looking for John Wilkes Booth in muddy areas.
johny
Wow
Paleface
Don’t double guess the Officer involved. If he said they were not there, then bet your last buck they were not there.
There are countless strange occurrences like this happening all over thanks to people with no brains or morality partaking in evil for profit and evils sake; now they reap the whirlwind.
Chief Seattle and many others warned the fools. They not only did not heed wise Council they were the guests like Fridays fish that returned kindness with pong.
I have the weird stuff occur, and there will be more.
Space Brothers? For the love of Gid you couldn’t care for Earth brothers let alone “help us space brothers” when you should be strung up for sick beliefs let alone what was done in the name of progress.
The greatest tradgedy though, is that when one putrid simian craps in the pool even the innocent get crap on them.
Anonymous
The trench was so deep they had to drain it. I don’t think the officers sent divers in that water. (Like they would on non frozen waters.)
Jason
Does it really save credibility by not mentioning that they gunned it at a stop sign in the Winter after drinking all night (we were all kids at some point)? I just have a hard time believing this is a mystery:
1)Who would rescue two teens just to bring them back to the spot where they crashed??
2.)The police officer doesn’t agree with the medical examiner? He’s not a medical expert.
3.) Arnold “survives” and goes partying after his girlfriend was killed in a drunk driving accident?
It’s of course a terrible accident, but not an unsolvable mystery imo.
Anonymous
I doubt it. Snow is very deceptive. You may think the land it covers is flat, but could walk into a 100 foot fall.
Usuakari
I think this is a case where they jumped right to zebra when they should have been looking for a horse.
It was a car wreck, they had been drinking all night. Dazed by the crash they got out of the car and died from exposure. It’s easy to miss a body in the winter. Her hair found, probably came from her body once the thaw started happening. The keys, who knows what he had with him. Or what he might have picked up during the night out. Her shoes, carried off by an animal.
There’s no conspiracy here, it’s a tragic accident.
No one wants to believe that they might have missed the bodies.
Mollie
It is also possible that someone pulled up in a vehicle and pretended to want to help them. That exact thing literally happened to me as a teenager. A boyfriend and I hit a deer out in the middle of nowhere. Around 12am-1am in the morning. We got out and started walking. A man pulled up in a car and said he would take us to a phone. He had a large knife and rope in the back seat. He pulled into a dark house and I was praying. He backed out of the driveway and said he was going to take us somewhere else. A police officer pulled him over for looking “suspicious “. He told us to get out of the car and act like everything was normal. I have no doubt that he wanted to kill us.
CuriousCat
Would you be willing to elaborate on this more? I am curious to know more about the rumors they were held in a cabin north of the lake and more about Howard Louis Young Senior. I think rumors are often just rumors, but in some cases, rumors hold at least a bit of truth to them.
.
I am from the area and have heard they were abducted and held captive at a farm house North of the lake. They were killed there and brought back to the site of their accident to try to cover it up.
I heard it was a man living in the area at the time with a long criminal history from Alabama. Howard Louis Young Senior.
Adam Davis
Did the police investigate this possibility? What did they find?
Bill Blaski
How did these cops not find these 2 bodies? Where do two bodies hide in the day light? If they broke thru the ice wouldn’t the cops check the broken ice? Why not drain the ditch the night of the wreck? Why did They not listen to Tracy that they were near.
Matt Horned Eagle Sr.
Much Wo’pi’da’s to Officer Youngstrum !!…to this day…I feel in my heart that Officer Youngstrum, Also feels in his heart… The Real Truth !!!… Also the Other Cowards will take Their Actions to Their Grave……. When the Guilty Spirits journey through the Milky Way……..O’mi’chek’ki’na……. Tun’ka’shi’na Knows !!!…….. Much Respect and Prayers to the Families of Ruby and Arnold !!!……… he’che’tu ye’do,… Mi’ta’ku’ye O’ya’sin…………..I.N.
Misteretc
Years ago I saw this episode, I wrote it off as a drunk driving accident in which Arnold was ejected from the car and his girlfriend Ruby getting out of the car and walking away only to fall thru the ice. I was watching this again tonight, I picked on things I had missed before…
#1. Why did Arnold hit the gas so hard at that stop sign. In the segment, they had been bar hopping all night and this was the next morning. I started to wonder if maybe he owed someone money, or someone was pissed at him or them for some reason. That would explain why Ruby booked it out of there after the crash leaving Tracy behind. Remember Arnold and Ruby were 19 and 17, and were new parents. They were not setup financially to support a child. Could they have borrowed money from someone they shouldn’t have? And that person or persons came after them that night, leading to the crash?
#2. Both he and Ruby’s toxology report (also shown in the segment) indicated no drugs, just alcohol levels. The cause of death was listed as exposure versus drowning. The car was resting on top of frozen solid ice, so that means neither Arnold or Ruby “fell” thru the ice that night. I have fallen thru ice at a semi-frozen over pond before. You still float towards the top, even under the ice. Deputy Youngstrom said that he spent many hours down there checking that area out in the 3 months between the crash and the bodies being found. Others did as well and no one saw the bodies.
#3. The accident was on Dec 12th of that year. Arnold was positively identified by a female witness on New Years eve (weeks later), in a car with 3 other people (Ruby was not with them). The police brought her in, and she took and passed a polygraph. She identified the (3) other people, who came in and denied ever being there. They were polygraphed and all (3) failed.
#4. The police found some hair belonging to Ruby right there on the road in March, three months after the accident. There’s no way it was there all that time. Also Ruby’s shoes were missing. Where were they?
#5. On Arnold’s body police found Keys. The keys were (1) car/vehicle key, and what appeared to be (2) house keys. The police have never found the vehicle or house these keys go to. I’ve had some thoughts (speculation) that Arnold and Ruby survived the accident, and were either hiding from police or from some criminal element. The didn’t visit their daughter because she was safely with Ruby’s parents (The Grandparents).
Deputy Youngstrom was further baffled by the discovery of two items that seemed to support the theory that Arnold and Ruby had not died in the ditch:
“We found a tuft of hair alongside the road. This hair was later determined by the forensic laboratory to belong to Ruby Bruguier. That hair couldn’t have stayed there for three months. In my opinion, it was when whoever brought the bodies back to the ditch, that’s when that piece of hair fell off of Ruby. At the time we pulled Arnold’s body from the ditch, I found a set of keys in his pocket, the keys were a car or vehicle key. And what appeared to be two house keys. I still have these keys in my possession. And to this day I have not found the vehicle nor that house that these keys fit.”
It’s all of course speculation as to what happened to them, but there were no other facts shared on this. If not for that sighting of Arnold around New Year’s and that witness passing the polygraph, plus the hair, and the keys I would have said it was just an accident and leave it at that. Clearly seems to be more going on here.
Matthew
Like a handful of others here, I also think the simplest explanation is probably the correct one – the rescuers somehow missed the bodies of Arnold and Ruby initially.
The way I see it there’s 3 different scenarios that could have played out:
1. Arnold and Ruby died at the scene. The mechanics of how this happened are fuzzy, but it seems likely that Arnold was ejected during the crash and landed in the ice and then ended up below it, and Ruby (according to her cousin that survived) was still alive immediately after impact, somehow wandered off but was still mortally wounded, and died of a combination of her injuries and exposure.
2. Arnold or Ruby or both survived the initial crash, left the cousin there to her fate, and escaped to a nearby friend or families house. Perhaps out of guilt or fear. For whatever reason, days or weeks later, they still both end up very close to their original crash site, dead.
3. Arnold or Ruby or both ended up alive immediately after the crash, and perhaps escaped somewhere like in scenario 2, but along the way were killed by someone that either saw the crash, or saw their condition / situation and decided to take advantage of it and kill them. After they are killed, they end up back at the place where they crashed, perhaps to cover up the tracks of a killer.
Out of the 3 situations, the 3rd seems the least likely to me. There is no sign of foul play on either of them, and the likely cause of death was exposure according to the autopsies. A couple people mentioned Arnold having a single bullet wound, but I’ve googled around and I can’t find anything to corroborate that, which makes me think it’s just someone trolling people here (this site seems to be full of people like that for some reason). Arnold’s body was well preserved, so if he was killed they’d likely be able to tell fairly easily. The tuft of hair identified as Ruby’s nearby doesn’t seem indicative of foul play either, since her body was already badly decomposed – the hair could have blown away to where it was found, or even a predator could have transported it there accidentally. So there’s really no evidence at all for foul play.
The 2nd scenario seems a little more likely, but still doesn’t make sense. IF Arnold did flee out of guilt for potentially having killed the cousin and his girlfriend, why did he come back and still end up dead months later? Only one witness brought up seeing Arnold after the crash, and they very easily could have been mistaken. Where was he the rest of the time? If he decided to kill himself after feeling immense guilt over the death of his girlfriend and jumped into the water, why did the autopsy not show drowning instead of exposure? If you’re still conscious when you drown your lungs will be filled with fluid, but his weren’t. That along with just the logistics of escaping, but somehow ending up dead right where you were trying to escape from seems incredibly bizarre.
And that’s why I think the first scenario is probably the correct one. It seems more likely that, for whatever reason, the rescuers and investigators just didn’t see their bodies. Arnold at least makes sense to me. If he was ejected and landed on the Ice but eventually sunk into the water and they had to pump out the water to get to him, I could understand not finding him right away. The condition of his body also supports that he ended up in the water immediately after the accident, since being submerged (especially in very cold water) will slow decomposition considerably. How they missed Ruby I don’t know, but like others have said, it may have just been very incompetent or hasty police work that led to them not seeing them. Could have been due to weather, or just a fluke. It seems pretty clear that they were there the whole time, regardless if they were killed on impact or shortly after in the cold weather. They died of exposure, and there were no signs of foul play. It seems like it was a tragic accident due to bad weather and drunk driving.
BooHoo
I think it’s pretty apparent that Arnold got ejected and died from exposure while unconscious. And Ruby probably either fell through the ice or more likely she slipped due to discombobulation and hut her head hard and also died from exposure.
Look, NO ONE is going to keep them alive for days, kill them, and then return them to the site of the accident. That’s just ridiculous and stupid.
Also, what are the chances that a perp came along in the middle of the night within seconds of the accident and took them? The odds are astronomical. And why didn’t they also take the cousin? Apparently she was conscious. Did she hear anything? Nope.
The police from that area seem extremely incompetent. I think the answer is obvious here. Arnold was an idiot for driving drunk in the first place. But spinning out like that on icy roads in the dead of winter? How dumb can you be??
Katelyn
Well for sure there is something off with this case. My guess is that some psycopath murdered them at some point and brought them there because that’s where the accident happened!! The foul play seems like the most possible scenario. The fact that there is no logic in a psycopaths’ actions can explain a lot of the things that look odd to us..!! The only thing they dont say if they did is talking with those men he was seen partying at some point.they could give usefull information on what he had told them. One of them could also be the killer.
Look for the locals, someone they would trust to ask for help..have in mind that the killer could roam around those streets looking for victims…or they could just be the wrong time at the wrong place. Still it seems like this is where the killer first met them!! I would suspect even those who came first for help.
Erika Contreras
They keep saying they don’t know if Arnold was wearing the same clothes or not from the night of the accident. Why didn’t they just ask Tracy? She was there and remembers most of the night pretty vividly I just don’t see why they wouldn’t go straight to the source.
WebSleuther
Sounds like Arnold rescued his GF from the crash, leaving their friend for dead. Guessing he was scared of the consequences of drinking while driving and getting involved with a car crash. He was spotted 3 weeks latter which was confirmed, he had no intentions of going back to that place. It seems to that point they’d decided to runaway and possibly start a new life? After that point I’m not sure what happened, although it’s possible they met with foul play, unrelated to the accident a few weeks later. To surmise: Arnold and GF ran-away, didn’t want to face consequences, met with foul play some time later, ended up murdered and returned to ditch to make it appear as their death was from car crash. The only theory as to who is someone involved with the accident didn’t want to face persecution as they may have caused it.
Bill Blaski
Very interesting story. Prayers to the family
Who rescued tracy police or an individual?
Shon
This is such a bizarre story. I hope their daughter and family get justice soon.
anonymous
it was told to me while i was growing up the stories of these two couple their both relation to me but some say when they crashed their bodies were taken to a old farm north of the lake and a man and his partner hung the couple there torching them for months when spring came the man waited until it was past mid-night its when the town dies down and no car in site nobody walking around then took his pick-up truck and dumped the bodies back but stupid of him he forgot where the bodies were before he grabbed them. honestly reason why this happen is the man and his partner ran them off the road. recognized the car and yeah ran them off the road the man didn’t have no ties with the third person but only Arnold and Ruby why, all because of Drugs, meth cocaine etc. but yeah one of the stories that was told to me by elders believe me ive been chasing this story for a long time lease i know the old farm barn what was told is true. there is a old barn north of the lake.
Patrick
I wonder if the friend who survived knows more and is afraid to say cause they were all drunk. You dont flip a car even on ice unless you’re speeding. They were driving at 6am tanked. ..horrible judgment.
Marie
I thought on the episode they mentioned they had a daughter. This case is very strange.
Jordan
Yes, the daughter’s name was Erika
Marcia
My hometown is Lake Andes where i was living at the time of this incident…i remember the morning when the bodies were discovered and the familys grief…such a tragedy…25 years later and still unsolved…with many unanswered questions…so strange the whole thing is…may God rest their souls…
Adam
I wanna know as much abut this case as possible. I’m very interested in it and would like to see it solved
kim in cali
i gotta think its just a tragic case of the rescuers missing the victims. sometimes the simple answer is the obvious one.
Brandi Aaron
I happen to agree with you, 100%.
It just doesn’t make sense why someone would randomly pick them up, keep them alive for 3 months and then not only kill them, but then bring them back to that area.
What I don’t understand is that the detective claimed that he and several others had searched that area….but they had to drain the area to find Arnold’s body? Obviously it was close by and they couldn’t see it until they drained the area, so WHY would they are it before then?? Makes very little sense.
John Doe
what about the stages of decomposition
Daniel
What about the keys though
Susan
I agree. As bizarre as it sounds, it could actually be that they weren’t seen during the searches. Stranger things have happened, and sadly, some things just cannot be explained.
Ditzyred
If they fell through the ice, wouldn’t it be more likely that the cause of death would be drowning instead of exposure?
Paul Daniel
This case has always haunted me. I guess we’ll never now what really happened. I feel really bad for the family that lost two very young people and for their daughter.
joey
Any updates. Yet
Blue bird
Hmm! That’s The Stange How Did.
They die? And Why Were They Drinking
Kendra
I heard this not long ago… Couldn’t they have wandered up the road a ways and THEN fallen in? And then once the water thawed… Just floated down the stream. It just seems odd that someone would bring them to the same place where the crash took place. And if it was an active investigation.. That would also seem risky.. To bring them back. I don’t know.. Very strange case for sure
Anonymous
ARNOLD BEING “MENTAL” SOAKED HIMSELF IN THE DITCH PURPOSELY PLAYING “NAVY SEAL & RUBY FOLLOWED! IT WAS TOO COLD FOR THERE BRAINS AND THEY WERE ALIVE BUT ON CONSCIOUS, NO BODY FOUND THEM AND THEY DROWNED!
joey
Any updates on this
Joelle
Idk about this. They really need to look into it. I don’t think it was their spirit. Where are her shoes and glasses?? and why would a piece of her hair be there still? and why a bullet hole?? Their are some sick people out there now a days. Their is too many things missing for this to be an accident. The family should start their own investigation. You need to look into the woman that saw Arnold on new years eve. I don’t see how they could have been ejected. You had to have been going fast and flip numerous times to be ejected. If anything hire your own private investigator. Cops are getting crooked also!!! Prayers to the family!!!
Kyle
Insulting the Reservation and County cops how nice of you. The LEOs involved in the investigation want to know what happened to these kids, they want to put the person(s) responsible away and help the families deal with their loss. I’ve driven through the Lake Andes area and there isn’t much there. It’s just wierd how the kids could disappear, the area search time and again then their bodies mysteriously reappear. Massively creepy.
Mr Clever
Guessing… race related crime, foul play.
Melody
This is the strangest case I have ever heard of.
Nash Rambler
When I saw this episode I thought this sounds like a case for David Paulides of Missing 411. If you don’t know about him and his work definately check it out on youtube. I’ll also email him about it see what he thinks.
jennifer tidings
YES!!! i thought the same thing !!! i love this man and his work!
Chester
If you read his new book about weird missing cases in the city then this case matches it 100% It’s about people vanishing and appearing dead near the last site they went missing even thought numerous people searched it and they weren’t there. They also end up in or near water etc. Plus a high rate of them are German descendants or have diabetes.
Eric W Bohannon
By the Power of Jehovah Lord I see their bodies covered with a white tarp, by a house, that was blue at the time, shingled, now red, and I see they witnessed murders and cabalism. I see a tee pee in the yard now.
Kyle
You are an idiot. The only reason you “see” a tee-pee is because the kids were Sioux. Cabalism? WTH?
By the Power of Bosco
I see an idiot trying to pass of daydreams and hallucinations as credible or helpful information. Stop wasting people’s time with your nonsense.
joey
Maybe they fall out of the car i don’t. see how after car crash then someone murder them i don’t see someone waiting for them in the cold
Anonymous
MOI-low speed rollover icy roads. Less kinetic energy=less injury to body. They both may have been ejected. What the cousin heard was residual spirit. They are native. He seeing she may have past fled scene with her body. He kept her somewhere. He was seen. He had guilt . He may have taken his own life and placed eventually by others not wanting no involvement.
Familymember
They left out very important details like a bullet hole in Arnold and it was a major highway not a remote intersection plus my auauntie Melissa ashes was out searching and she was in that area she said it was froze over not thawed.
Annonomius
This is the first I ever heard about a bullet hole in Arnold. I’m from the area, where was the accident at? And who is their daughter?
I think...
I think they were drunk and scared and maybe fell through the ice or died of exposure. Its crazy that they are in the same,exact clothes as the day of the accident. I think they in their drunken state, for scared, hid and something happened.
Corrina Lee
Actually the article said that they weren’t sure if Arnold was in the same clothes, but they said that Ruby was.
Just a guess
It seems plausible that they made it to a place that they could stay warm, maybe a friends house, and stayed with them fearing they were in trouble. Maybe Ruby died while traveling or shortly after they arrived somewhere and Arnold went into hiding after placing her body somewhere. Or they could have been abducted with the same scenario, except the perpetrator hid her body and kept Arnold to keep him silent. Arnold or the perp took her back because of her decomposing and Arnold fell in(whether by himself or someone forcing him to fall in) and drowned.
Anonymous
I wish they did get warm. But if I feel into a lot of snow, there is really no way out of it. My instinctive reaction would be to move around. That could cave everything in.
Derekmart
Did they have police video of the search. Is it possible someone didn’t do there job. If someone took them. Wouldn’t the cousin who was in the car had heard something. Very strange. I never got a chance to see this one.
Shad
this is quite strange….