The Drought That Solved A 40-Year-Old Cold Case

In September of 2004, the cold case investigation appeared to uncover pertinent information to the girls' disappearance. Investigators got a tip from a family member of Jackson's saying Jackson had made a phone call the prior month to a man named David, in which Jackson appeared to talk about drinking, according to the Argus Leader. Investigators thought the call could have been to one David Lykken, who in 1971 lived near the gravel pits where the girls went missing. As of 2004, Lykken was serving an unrelated kidnapping and murder charge with a 225-year sentence.

In pursuit of the lead, investigators searched a local farm where Lykken had lived in 1971. There, they uncovered clothes, a purse, and even bones, according to CBS News. Further conversation with family members of the girls uncovered that Lykken knew both Miller and Jackson through church. Then one of Lykken's cellmates told investigators that Lykken confessed to the murders. Subsequently, Lykken was indited on murder charges, according to NPR. However, the cellmate later recanted his statement, and thereafter, in the face of circumstantial evidence, the case against Lykken was dropped.

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