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Sheriff speaks first with SpartaLive about Wednesday's development in the Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel cold case

Foster's car pulled from Calfkiller River after 21 years

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Breaking news in White County is that a man who was exploring the waters in White County has found the vehicle that was driven by Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel 21 years ago when they went missing.

White County Sheriff Steve Page says the finding is an answer to prayer and something he promised the parents of the teens he would continue to do throughout his tenure as sheriff.

“I promised Jeremy and Erin’s parents that as long as I was sheriff, I would keep looking for them,” Page said, “and I thank God that we were able to give this family some closure.”

Page said the vehicle, which was found in the Calfkiller River that runs along Highway 84, in White County, was positively identified as the vehicle owned by Erin Foster, and he also said there were human remains found in the vehicle.

“We cannot say positively who those remains belong to until we get the reports back from the coroner’s office,” Page said, “so we aren’t closing this case or stopping any investigations until we have definitive answers.”

The search for the missing teens began in April 2000 but had primarily focused on areas in the western portion of White County as Bechtel and Foster had reportedly been at a party with friends in that area. There had also been reports of possible sightings of the teens in other states over the years, leading investigators to search even further from home for them.

Page, however, said that after reviewing the files again, he felt all of the searches were taking place in the wrong area.

“When I first took office and began looking at the case, I, too, was looking in the western portion of the county,” he said, “but recently I started looking closer. Jeremy and Erin left the party and came to town. They went to Erin’s house. They then left the house, and that is when they disappeared. Not when they left the party.”

Page said the two teens had picked up Foster’s brother from a pool hall, in Sparta, and had taken him home before heading back out again. According to Page, that meant they would have had to make two trips along Highway 84, which is in the center of White County, that night after having left the western part of the county.

On Nov. 28, 2021, Page was asked by a member of Foster’s family if he had seen a video of a man, Jeremy Sides, who was “Exploring with the Nug”. The video belonged to a YouTuber who has been instrumental in solving other cold cases around the country.

“I went home and watched the video and contacted the man conducting the search,” Page said, “and I began looking through the files again. That’s when I realized we have been looking in the wrong area.”

Page said he contacted the YouTuber and told him he should search the Calfkiller River, along Highway 84.

On Nov. 30, 2021, the search changed from the Sligo Bridge area to Calfkiller River where the car that has now been positively identified as the one driven by Erin Foster, in 2000, was found.

Page said the discovery is the result of the years of dedication to solving this case by all of those involved as well as those who found the car and helped with the extraction. Page listed district attorney investigator Chris Isom, who has worked continuously on the case for the last 21 years, along with Sparta-White County Rescue Squad, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agent Darren Shockey, Tennessee Towing Company, White County Emergency Medical Service Mike Kerr, Sparta Fire Department, and White County Emergency Management Agency as those to whom he was extending extra thanks.

“Again, the case is not closed yet, and there is still a lot of work to be done to determine the identities of those in the vehicle as well as the facts surrounding the case,” Page said. “But we are this much closer to being able to have answers for the families of Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel.”

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