Car found in Florida canal tied to '78 missing teens case

SUNRISE, Fla. - Officials say they've recovered a car from a South Florida canal, that's the vehicle a young couple was in when they disappeared more than 35 years ago.

The 1969 Dodge Cornet car was spotted Wednesday by a South Florida Water Management District employee who was doing routine maintenance work in Sunrise.

Authorities ran the vehicle identification number and confirmed it was connected to the missing-persons case of Dana Null, 15, and Harry Wade Atchison III, 19. They were last seen leaving Atchison's house in October 1978. Detectives said the pair had been arguing after attending a Foreigner concert in Hollywood, Fla. earlier that evening. Atchison got into his car and started to leave when Null flagged him down and got into the car.

They weren't seen again.

No bodies were found in the rusting orange car, and police divers searched the canal again Thursday, looking for clues.

Null was a freshman in high school when she disappeared. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children developed an age-processed image of Null a few years ago showing what she would have looked like at age 48.