YouTube investigators help recover remains of a man missing for nearly 20 years

‘It’s my brother. They found him’

YouTube investigators have helped find the remains of a Pennsylvania man who had been missing for nearly two decades.

The group Adventures with Purpose located the body of James Amabile in a car in Darby’s Creek, Philadelphia, on Saturday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. 

“It’s my brother,” Stephen Amabile told The Inquirer. “They found him.”

James Amabile disappeared without trace on 4 December 2003 while on his way to pick up his two daughters, aged eight and five, from their babysitter.

After seeing the success of Adventures with Purpose in locating missing persons in bodies of water, a family member contacted them to see if they could help with the search.

The group has a specialist dive unit and claims to have solved 20 missing cases since 2019.

In a video posted to their 2 million YouTube subscribers, Doug Bishop said they tried to retrace Mr Amabile’s movements on the day he disappeared.

Mr Amabile, a UPS worker who was 38 at the time, had overslept and was in a hurry to pick up his daughters.

He called called the babysitter to say he would be there in five minutes, but never arrived and was never seen again.

Mr Bishop said the group homed in on Darby’s Creek as a possible search area, and while using sonar equipment they discovered a submerged vehicle 7.3m (24 feet) beneath the surface.

They contacted Ridley Township Police, who assisted in reaching the vehicle.

Ridley Township Police confirmed they had recovered human remains from inside a vehicle, and that the missing number plate matched a missing person case from 2003.

They wouldn’t release the identity of the remains until it had been confirmed by a medical examiner, Captain James Dougherty said.

Stephen Amabile told the Inquirer he realised it was his brother’s car when a diver emerged with his Pennsylvania car number plate.

He said his brother was diabetic and believes he may have become confused while suffering from low blood sugar and driven “right into the water”.

After the remains were discovered on Saturday, several members of Mr Amabile’s turned up at the scene of the recovery operation.

Divers from the Adventures with Purpose YouTube group found missing man James Amabile at Darby’s Creek in Pennsylvania (Fox 29 Philadelphia)

Stephen Amabile said after so many disappointments, he had not been expecting to ever locate his brother.

His two nieces, who had now known their father’s fate for the last 20 years, were overcome at hearing the news, he said.

Mr Bishop of Adventures with Purpose expressed his sympathy for the family.

“While a full autopsy still needs to be conducted before confirmation can be made that James has been brought home, the family is confident James has been found and is coming home answering the question this family has desperately needed.”

Adventures with Purpose raise money through making documentaries and donations, and don’t charge the families of missing persons for their services.