After years of searching and one failed attempt at pinning the disappearance on a criminal, a case of two missing teenagers is closer to being solved.

At a news conference Monday at the Union County Courthouse in Elk Point, South Dakota, Attorney General Marty Jackley and Union County Sheriff Dan Limoges confirmed that a vehicle was recovered in rural Union County that is believed to be related to the Cheryl Miller and Pamela Jackson missing persons case of 1971. The vehicle was discovered in an embankment in the Brule Creek.

The vehicle will be processed for forensic evidence.

In 2007, South Dakota’s cold case unit indicted Donald Lykken on murder charges. The charges were eventually dropped due to fabricated evidence by Lykken’s former cellmate.

Miller and Jackson were last seen in a 1960 Studebaker Lark. Officials confirmed the origin of submerged vehicle by its license plate.

As of now there will be a painstaking effort to gather evidence considering the conditions of the accident scene and the age of the parts involved.