Per Only in Your State, Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier were drinking the night of the car crash. Also in the car was Archambeau’s teenage cousin, Tracy Dion. She survived the accident, and recalls what happened. After spinning out, probably on ice, and landing in the ditch, she was upside down, still in the car. Bruguier was also in the car, crying, but Archambeau was gone. According to Unsolved Mysteries, Ruby managed to escape the vehicle, but closed the door behind her, leaving Dion trapped. After EMTs arrived, she was extricated from the vehicle, but her cousin and his girlfriend were nowhere to be found.
Sheriff’s deputy Bill Youngstrom remembers the search, scouring nearby railroad tracks and a lake. He was fearful the young couple were dazed following the accident, wandered off, and fell through the ice. Archambeau and Bruguier were finally found that spring, in the area that had previously been covered by the authorities’ search. As reported by Unsolved Mysteries, Youngstrom’s first thought at the time of the accident was, “Maybe Arnold was out drinking and didn’t want to get arrested, so we figured he’d show up in a few days.” Archambeau’s aunt, Karen Tuttle, agreed, “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.”
