Post by MCDemuth on Dec 20, 2018 2:38:40 GMT
What or Who... killed Arnold Archambeau & Ruby Bruguier.... AFTER a frightening car crash?
Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier
The Backstory:
Arnold Archambeau, twenty, and Ruby Bruguier, nineteen, were a Yankton Sioux couple who had started dating in high school. In 1991, they became parents of an infant daughter.
On December 11, 1992, the couple, along with Ruby's seventeen-year-old cousin, Tracy Dion, went on an all-night partying spree.
Shortly before 6 AM, on December 12th, the three arrived at Tracy's home where they had left the child with Tracy's father. He advised them to come back later, since they had been drinking.
Just a few minutes later, the three were involved in a horrible car accident in Lake Andes, South Dakota where they lived.
The Accident:
Arnold Archambeau was driving the car, and stopped at a remote intersection at the edge of the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in Lake Andes, South Dakota. It was cold and the road was icy.
Tracy recalled what happened:
“We came up to that stop sign. That’s all I remember is just him looking and, saying there are no cars and him spinning out FROM the stop sign. And it was just like the snap of a finger and the next thing you know, we ended up in the ditch. The Car was upside down in the ditch and Ruby and I were still in the car. Arnold wasn’t in the car. I don’t know where he was. Ruby was crying. She was saying 'oh my God, oh my God'. She just kept hitting the car. The next thing I know, the door, it was open a little ways and she had enough room where she slid out. And then so I was going to reach over and then it was just like that, the door went shut.”
By the time help arrived, Tracy was the only person still in the car. For some unexplained reason, Arnold and Ruby had 'abandoned' her, and they were nowhere to be found...
The Search:
By daybreak, the police had already searched the area. Although the ice underneath the car was frozen solid, they feared that Arnold and Ruby had wandered off and fallen through the ice at another location.
Bill Youngstrom was a Deputy for the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Department at the time of their disappearance:
“We walked around the ice part. We had one officer walk on the opposite side of the railroad tracks, thinking maybe they wandered off toward the lake area, which was also frozen. I’ve been to a number of accidents where there hasn’t been somebody around. The driver hasn’t been there, no passengers there. And a lot of times it’s because they’ve been partying. Out drinking. I mean we do have a DWI law. That was initially my first thought. Maybe Arnold was out drinking and didn’t want to get arrested, so we figured he’d show up in a few days.”
Arnold’s aunt, Karen Tuttle, did not accept that theory:
“I knew he wouldn’t hide, he would’ve come home to us or called us and told us I’m over here don’t worry about me. But we never heard anything from him.”
Over the next three months, Deputy Youngstrom investigated every possible lead. Day after day he came up empty.
Their Bodies:
Then the spring thaw arrived. In early March, a passing motorist saw a body in the ditch, just 75 feet from the accident site. It was Ruby Bruguier. Deputy Youngstrom witnessed a gruesome scene:
“Her glasses were missing. Both shoes were missing. Her clothes were in tact. It appeared to be the same clothes that she had on the night of the accident. But the body was very decomposed. It was hard to recognize. And in fact we had to get down to look at a tattoo to get a positive identification of the body. At that time, our department decided that we would start pumping the ditch out. And about noon the next day we found the body of Arnold submerged in the water, about 15 feet away from where we found Ruby. Arnold’s body was very well kept. His skin color was fine. He was not frozen to the ground. The clothes were not frozen to the ground. There is a question mark as far as in our investigation if he was wearing the same clothes that he was the night of the accident.”
The bodies were immediately autopsied but there was no way to determine the time of death. The coroner concluded that Arnold and Ruby had both died of exposure. But Deputy Youngstrom suspected foul play:
“Death by exposure is like they froze to death. I cannot actually buy that. They may have froze to death. But they didn’t freeze to death at that ditch. It’s impossible that they could have been there the entire three months. I myself personally walked that ditch several times during that period. I’ve gotten written affidavits from people that’s also watched, walked it, people that have nothing to do with the case. They couldn’t have been there. They couldn’t have missed.”
Deputy Youngstrom was further baffled by the discovery of two items that seemed to support the theory that Arnold and Ruby had not died in the ditch:
“We found a tuft of hair alongside the road. This hair was later determined by the forensic laboratory to belong to Ruby Bruguier. That hair couldn’t have stayed there for three months. In my opinion, it was when whoever brought the bodies back to the ditch, that’s when that piece of hair fell off of Ruby. At the time we pulled Arnold’s body from the ditch, I found a set of keys in his pocket, the keys were a car or vehicle key. And what appeared to be two house keys. I still have these keys in my possession. And to this day I have not found the vehicle nor that house that these keys fit.”
UPDATE:
Soon there was another startling revelation. A witness claimed to have seen Arnold, accompanied by three other people on New Year’s Eve, almost three weeks after he was reported missing. Authorities brought the witness in for a polygraph exam. She passed.
Interestingly, the three people in the car failed their polygraphs.
The police seem certain that there were no holes in the ice, covering the ditch the night of the accident, and that their bodies were NOT lying on the surface of the ice... and it is believed that if they had fallen through the ice, they would have drowned, instead of freezing to death...
And so... The BIG question is:
How did the bodies of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier end up in the very same ditch, and only 75 feet, from where they crashed their car three months earlier?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
THE ICE THEORY:
Did Ruby Bruguier fall into the same hole in the ice as Arnold Archambeau?... or... Did they fall through separate holes in the ice?
It would seems that Tracy did NOT spend hours and hours waiting to be rescued, and so, any ice holes should have been easily seen... So why couldn't the investigators find any?
If there were NO air pockets under the surface layer of ice... Why didn't Arnold & Ruby instantly drown?
If they were alive for a short time, under the ice, why didn't they try to get back out or scream?... Why were there no indications that they were under the ice?
How could Ruby's body be so decomposed, when Arnold's was so well preserved... When, basically, the exact same thing, supposedly, happened to both of them?
THE FOUL PLAY THEORY:
Did the car really "Spin Out" from the stop sign, lose all control, and then crash in the ditch, upside down... While "ejecting" Arnold from the car in the process? (Must have going very fast, to do all that...)... or... Was the car, perhaps, pushed into the ditch by another car?
Did Arnold, somehow, die at the ditch that morning...but, Ruby was able to survive, only to be brought back, months later?...or...Did both Arnold & Ruby survive, only to have their bodies returned months later?
This person that brought, at least, Ruby back...
Did he pick her up at the crash scene, with an intent to kill her?... or...Did he encounter her later?
Ruby’s father, Quentin Bruguier, had his own theory:
“They had to die someplace else. Somebody had to come and put them back in there again, to make it look like that’s where they died.”
Suspects:
None known... Although...
Authorities have been unable to locate two men who were seen near the ditch just a few hours before the bodies were discovered. They were driving a dark, blazer-style vehicle.
Results:
Unresolved.
It is still unknown if the young lovers were victims of a homicide or an accident...
The FBI closed the case in 1999; they found no evidence of foul play and felt that the couple died accidentally. However, some officers involved in the case, along with the victims' families, still believe that foul play was involved. At the very least, they believe that the couple died elsewhere and the bodies were placed in the ditch.
A $5,000 reward is being offered in the case.
Extra Notes:
Ruby's father, Quentin Bruguier, died on October 17, 2001.
This segment originally aired on the April 14, 1995 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries".
This case really intrigues me...
It's hard to determine, what really happened to them...
Any theory, raises a lot of questions, which make the case very strange...
I know that there were DWI laws, that Arnold & Ruby may have been worried about... But, I find it hard to believe that they would runaway from the scene and leave their trapped cousin behind, and then completely abandon their young daughter.
I have trouble with believing that they BOTH died there in the ditch that morning on the accident... That just doesn't make sense, based on the evidence, at least to me.
"Foul Play" seems more likely, at least in part... At the very least... I'm not sure if Ruby was murdered or if she was simply found somewhere else... but... I do believe that Ruby's body was returned to the ditch...
Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier
The Backstory:
Arnold Archambeau, twenty, and Ruby Bruguier, nineteen, were a Yankton Sioux couple who had started dating in high school. In 1991, they became parents of an infant daughter.
On December 11, 1992, the couple, along with Ruby's seventeen-year-old cousin, Tracy Dion, went on an all-night partying spree.
Shortly before 6 AM, on December 12th, the three arrived at Tracy's home where they had left the child with Tracy's father. He advised them to come back later, since they had been drinking.
Just a few minutes later, the three were involved in a horrible car accident in Lake Andes, South Dakota where they lived.
The Accident:
Arnold Archambeau was driving the car, and stopped at a remote intersection at the edge of the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in Lake Andes, South Dakota. It was cold and the road was icy.
Tracy recalled what happened:
“We came up to that stop sign. That’s all I remember is just him looking and, saying there are no cars and him spinning out FROM the stop sign. And it was just like the snap of a finger and the next thing you know, we ended up in the ditch. The Car was upside down in the ditch and Ruby and I were still in the car. Arnold wasn’t in the car. I don’t know where he was. Ruby was crying. She was saying 'oh my God, oh my God'. She just kept hitting the car. The next thing I know, the door, it was open a little ways and she had enough room where she slid out. And then so I was going to reach over and then it was just like that, the door went shut.”
By the time help arrived, Tracy was the only person still in the car. For some unexplained reason, Arnold and Ruby had 'abandoned' her, and they were nowhere to be found...
The Search:
By daybreak, the police had already searched the area. Although the ice underneath the car was frozen solid, they feared that Arnold and Ruby had wandered off and fallen through the ice at another location.
Bill Youngstrom was a Deputy for the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Department at the time of their disappearance:
“We walked around the ice part. We had one officer walk on the opposite side of the railroad tracks, thinking maybe they wandered off toward the lake area, which was also frozen. I’ve been to a number of accidents where there hasn’t been somebody around. The driver hasn’t been there, no passengers there. And a lot of times it’s because they’ve been partying. Out drinking. I mean we do have a DWI law. That was initially my first thought. Maybe Arnold was out drinking and didn’t want to get arrested, so we figured he’d show up in a few days.”
Arnold’s aunt, Karen Tuttle, did not accept that theory:
“I knew he wouldn’t hide, he would’ve come home to us or called us and told us I’m over here don’t worry about me. But we never heard anything from him.”
Over the next three months, Deputy Youngstrom investigated every possible lead. Day after day he came up empty.
Their Bodies:
Then the spring thaw arrived. In early March, a passing motorist saw a body in the ditch, just 75 feet from the accident site. It was Ruby Bruguier. Deputy Youngstrom witnessed a gruesome scene:
“Her glasses were missing. Both shoes were missing. Her clothes were in tact. It appeared to be the same clothes that she had on the night of the accident. But the body was very decomposed. It was hard to recognize. And in fact we had to get down to look at a tattoo to get a positive identification of the body. At that time, our department decided that we would start pumping the ditch out. And about noon the next day we found the body of Arnold submerged in the water, about 15 feet away from where we found Ruby. Arnold’s body was very well kept. His skin color was fine. He was not frozen to the ground. The clothes were not frozen to the ground. There is a question mark as far as in our investigation if he was wearing the same clothes that he was the night of the accident.”
The bodies were immediately autopsied but there was no way to determine the time of death. The coroner concluded that Arnold and Ruby had both died of exposure. But Deputy Youngstrom suspected foul play:
“Death by exposure is like they froze to death. I cannot actually buy that. They may have froze to death. But they didn’t freeze to death at that ditch. It’s impossible that they could have been there the entire three months. I myself personally walked that ditch several times during that period. I’ve gotten written affidavits from people that’s also watched, walked it, people that have nothing to do with the case. They couldn’t have been there. They couldn’t have missed.”
Deputy Youngstrom was further baffled by the discovery of two items that seemed to support the theory that Arnold and Ruby had not died in the ditch:
“We found a tuft of hair alongside the road. This hair was later determined by the forensic laboratory to belong to Ruby Bruguier. That hair couldn’t have stayed there for three months. In my opinion, it was when whoever brought the bodies back to the ditch, that’s when that piece of hair fell off of Ruby. At the time we pulled Arnold’s body from the ditch, I found a set of keys in his pocket, the keys were a car or vehicle key. And what appeared to be two house keys. I still have these keys in my possession. And to this day I have not found the vehicle nor that house that these keys fit.”
UPDATE:
Soon there was another startling revelation. A witness claimed to have seen Arnold, accompanied by three other people on New Year’s Eve, almost three weeks after he was reported missing. Authorities brought the witness in for a polygraph exam. She passed.
Interestingly, the three people in the car failed their polygraphs.
The police seem certain that there were no holes in the ice, covering the ditch the night of the accident, and that their bodies were NOT lying on the surface of the ice... and it is believed that if they had fallen through the ice, they would have drowned, instead of freezing to death...
And so... The BIG question is:
How did the bodies of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier end up in the very same ditch, and only 75 feet, from where they crashed their car three months earlier?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
THE ICE THEORY:
Did Ruby Bruguier fall into the same hole in the ice as Arnold Archambeau?... or... Did they fall through separate holes in the ice?
It would seems that Tracy did NOT spend hours and hours waiting to be rescued, and so, any ice holes should have been easily seen... So why couldn't the investigators find any?
If there were NO air pockets under the surface layer of ice... Why didn't Arnold & Ruby instantly drown?
If they were alive for a short time, under the ice, why didn't they try to get back out or scream?... Why were there no indications that they were under the ice?
How could Ruby's body be so decomposed, when Arnold's was so well preserved... When, basically, the exact same thing, supposedly, happened to both of them?
THE FOUL PLAY THEORY:
Did the car really "Spin Out" from the stop sign, lose all control, and then crash in the ditch, upside down... While "ejecting" Arnold from the car in the process? (Must have going very fast, to do all that...)... or... Was the car, perhaps, pushed into the ditch by another car?
Did Arnold, somehow, die at the ditch that morning...but, Ruby was able to survive, only to be brought back, months later?...or...Did both Arnold & Ruby survive, only to have their bodies returned months later?
This person that brought, at least, Ruby back...
Did he pick her up at the crash scene, with an intent to kill her?... or...Did he encounter her later?
Ruby’s father, Quentin Bruguier, had his own theory:
“They had to die someplace else. Somebody had to come and put them back in there again, to make it look like that’s where they died.”
Suspects:
None known... Although...
Authorities have been unable to locate two men who were seen near the ditch just a few hours before the bodies were discovered. They were driving a dark, blazer-style vehicle.
Results:
Unresolved.
It is still unknown if the young lovers were victims of a homicide or an accident...
The FBI closed the case in 1999; they found no evidence of foul play and felt that the couple died accidentally. However, some officers involved in the case, along with the victims' families, still believe that foul play was involved. At the very least, they believe that the couple died elsewhere and the bodies were placed in the ditch.
A $5,000 reward is being offered in the case.
Extra Notes:
Ruby's father, Quentin Bruguier, died on October 17, 2001.
This segment originally aired on the April 14, 1995 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries".
This case really intrigues me...
It's hard to determine, what really happened to them...
Any theory, raises a lot of questions, which make the case very strange...
I know that there were DWI laws, that Arnold & Ruby may have been worried about... But, I find it hard to believe that they would runaway from the scene and leave their trapped cousin behind, and then completely abandon their young daughter.
I have trouble with believing that they BOTH died there in the ditch that morning on the accident... That just doesn't make sense, based on the evidence, at least to me.
"Foul Play" seems more likely, at least in part... At the very least... I'm not sure if Ruby was murdered or if she was simply found somewhere else... but... I do believe that Ruby's body was returned to the ditch...