On a late-summer morning along the Chicago River, a group of independent divers set out with sonar gear to chase a mystery. They had a specific mission: search for traces of Edward and Stephania Andrews. The Andrews were a suburban couple who disappeared after leaving a downtown cocktail party in their 1969 Oldsmobile 442. That was back in May of 1970. The case remains unanswered, even after 55 years. What they found instead was a tangle of Chicago’s hidden past: 97 cars resting on the riverbed between Cicero Avenue and Diversey Parkway.

The dive team, known as Chaos Divers, is based in southern Illinois and spends much of its time combing rivers and lakes across the country. They look for cars tied to missing persons cases.

Jacob Grubbs, the group’s founder, explained that stumbling on submerged vehicles is routine. But the sheer scale of the Chicago haul was unlike anything his team had encountered.

Some sections contained clusters of a dozen or more cars piled together like a scrapyard under water

Police divers assisted when one car, a Nissan near 31st Street and Western Avenue, required removal because it obstructed boat traffic.

Years of barge strikes reduced it to a crumpled shell.

Out of the 75 vehicles inspected so far, none have been connected to the Andrews disappearance, and no human remains have surfaced, Fox 32 Chicago shared.

The couple’s final night remains one of the city’s enduring mysteries

Witnesses reported that Edward had been drinking before leaving the Sheraton Hotel, at that time located on North Michigan Avenue.

He allegedly crashed into a garage door before steering the couple’s yellow Oldsmobile 442 south in the wrong lanes of Lower Wacker Drive. The act placed them on a collision course with the river.

Investigators long suspected the car went into the water, but it never appeared.

Chaos Divers continue to log license plates and VIN numbers, handing them to authorities for cross-checks

They noted that single cars isolated from the clusters may hold more investigative value, suggesting foul play or accidents rather than casual dumping.

For now, 97 cars remain a sobering reminder of how much can vanish beneath a city’s surface. The Andrews’ Oldsmobile is not among them…at least, not yet.