Angler spots truck in Alabama lake. It belongs to a man missing for 11 years, cops say

UPDATE: The remains have been identified as those of Oscar Lewis King, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said Feb. 27. Foul play is not suspected, as investigators believe King accidentally drove off a boat ramp into the water.

“We are thankful that the case is now resolved and the family can gain closure in knowing what happened,” Sheriff Jeff Shaver said.

The original story is below.

An angler was fishing on an Alabama lake when he spotted what he thought was a vehicle.

When authorities recovered a truck, they learned it was registered to a man who had been missing for 11 years.

Deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to Weiss Lake at Chesnut Bay after the fisherman’s call, the office said in a Feb. 23 news release.

They fished the truck out of the lake and learned the owner was Oscar Lewis King, who vanished in 2013 at the age of 72, officials said.

King drove a blue Dodge pickup truck and was known to visit his family in Texas, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database. He and his vehicle were reported missing Dec. 2, 2013.

He lived in Centre, Alabama.

Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver told McClatchy News the area has some boat ramps that have led to cars accidentally slipping into the water.

King had dementia and had left his glasses at home, Shaver said.

A couple of years ago, investigators pulled four vehicles out of a lake in an attempt to locate King, but none of them belonged to the missing man, according to Shaver.

YouTube channels dedicated to finding missing people have documented attempts to trace King’s steps and find his vehicle, but they never led to the recovery of King’s truck.

Chestnut Bay is a resort in northern Alabama, about 90 miles northeast of Birmingham.

This story was originally published February 26, 2024 at 11:33 AM.