LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After more than 50 years, a mystery involving a fatal cabin fire has been answered thanks to a southern Indiana sheriff's department.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office worked to solve the cold case involving three teens on Dec. 18, 1971 who were staying in a cabin near the White River on the outskirts of Brownstown.
The cabin, built from railroad ties, was used as a hangout and for camping by local teenagers. Stanley Robison, 17, Jerry Autry, 19, and Mike Sewell, 16, were believed to be in the cabin when it caught fire 52 years ago.
Sewell's younger sister, Linda Pack, said her family has waited for answers.
"I had people all my life come up to me and say did you ever find out what happened to your brother," Pack said.
In the original investigation, the coroner said the bodies were so badly burned that the remains couldn't be identified. Class rings belonging to Robison and Autry were used to identify them, but no one ever knew for sure what had happened to Sewell.
Two hours after investigators left the scene, the family of Sewell reported him missing. He was never seen again.
Sheriff Rick Meyer assigned the cold case to Lt. Adam Nicholson last year to renew the investigation.
"Several rumors and questions have been raised over the years, adding to the mystery of the events of that evening," Nicholson said in a news release. "It seemed logical to believe Sewell was there and had died at the scene, but there was no proof."
The rumors and suspicion that Sewell murdered the two teens forced the Sewell family out of Brownstown.
"The ones that cared about it him knew that he couldn’t do something like that," Pack said.
The decision was made to exhume the remains of Autry and Robison to determine if there was evidence of a third victim from the fire.
Dr. Krista Latham, a professor of biology and anthropology and a board-certified Forensic Anthropologist with the University of Indianapolis, agreed to help with the case. With the permission of the families, Latham and a team of anthropologists helped exhume the bodies of Robison and Autry in June 2022 at Fairview Cemetery in Brownstown.
The families provided their DNA, so it could be compared with the remains.
Using skeletal evidence, Latham's lab determined in November 2022 that the two caskets contained remains from three individuals. She also noted that there was no trauma to the remains that couldn't be attributed to the fire.
"Now to finally know that what they thought all along is true really means lot to them and means a lot to us to be able to bring those answers to the family," said Nicholson.
"I just feel like I am, was blessed God is the one that help us get through this. I am just glad I got to be alive long enough that I got to know the truth."
Pack said the discovery brings closure.
"A bunch of emotions all at once. I didn’t really think I would ever know until I died," she said.
The lab found enough DNA in the least-burnt bones to send to the Indiana State Police Lab for DNA testing. Last week, tests released by the lab only identified bones that came from Robinson. But the lab will try to extract evidence to be examined by forensic science with future technology.
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