Capture d’écran YouTube / Exploring With Nug
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SOCIAL MEDIA – Jeremy Sides just solved a cold case over 20 years old. In images posted to his YouTube channel, a camera-armed diver can be seen sweeping up algae covering a license plate and exclaiming, “It’s them!” This underwater videographer has just discovered the remains of two long-missing Americans, the latest episode of an emerging phenomenon on the online video platform.
Among the most successful videos on the platform, are indeed those of YouTubers who film themselves using devices like sonar to search bodies of water across the United States, in search of submerged vehicles, in connection with unresolved disappearance cases.
And 21 years later …
In Tennessee, in the southern United States, a 21-year-old disappearance was resolved this week, as part of this type of research for which divers-youtubers are paid by YouTube, according to the number of views generated by the videos.
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According to experts, the appearance of this phenomenon of budding detectives has had a mixed impact, with some spectacular failures resulting from the temptation to produce viral content, but also with in some cases an essential role played by these amateurs.
Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel, two teenagers from the small town of Sparta in central Tennessee, had mysteriously disappeared in April 2000. For 21 years, their families and loved ones had clung to the hope they had run away for. start a new life.
But Jeremy Sides, a 42-year-old diver whose YouTube channel “Exploring with Nug” specializes in locating missing people and objects, posted a video on December 4, which was viewed over 1.7 million times as of this writing, showing how he solved the enigma of the disappearance of the two teenagers.
Two cases resolved in one month
“Once I could confirm that was the license plate … it was like a wave: it’s going to end, they (their remains, editor’s note) can return home, their families have an answer, ”Jeremy Sides told AFP of his discovery in the Calfkiller River.
It was the second time in nearly a month that the diver has had a pivotal role in the likely resolution of a case. He had indeed discovered a car linked to a woman missing since 2005 in the city of Oakridge, also in Tennessee.
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Another group of YouTubers, called the “Chaos Divers” (“Chaos Divers”), claimed to have found in the last two months the remains of seven people missing in different cases that have led them to travel nearly 13,000 km through United States. Their work arouses intense emotions, especially when it comes to breaking the news to the families of the missing.
“It’s a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching feeling that you never want to let go. Because you tell them, and you see their tears run down their faces, but see that weight come off their shoulders, ”says Lindsay Bussick, partner of Chaos Divers founder Jacob Grubbs. According to them, their job is not just to amass YouTube views.
“I’m sorry I have to produce content like this,” says Grubbs, a 38-year-old former coal miner. “But this is a way that we have found to be able to finance aid to another family,” he adds.
A controversial phenomenon
According to Adam Scott Wandt, an assistant professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, these “amateur sleuths” and their operations have become a real cultural phenomenon over the past decade.
While he notes that some people helped find the body of Gabby Petito, a missing traveler in the United States this year, the results are greatly mixed. Some internet detectives had tarnished the reputation of an innocent student during the frantic search for the culprits in the hours and days following the Boston Marathon attack in 2013.
“The general public is improving, but they are still sometimes very egocentric,” adds Adam Scott Wandt, mentioning the temptation of some to absolutely seek to accumulate views on their videos.
Working as a complement to the police, rather than trying to flood investigators with clues and theories, amateurs have established themselves in a new role. Police in Sparta, Tennessee had heard that diver Jeremy Sides was investigating their area, but after noting that he was searching in the wrong place, they offered his advice.
The bittersweet tasting discovery came a few days later. “I finished my digs in this city river, and that’s where I found them. It looks like a simple car accident, ”Jeremy Sides told AFP.
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