Foss Lake mystery solved: It's them

• Human remains found in 2013 were tested for DNA


• Test results show they are six people who went missing in 1969 and 1970


• Some of the remains belong to three teens who were last seen in a 1969 Camaro


• The others are two men and a woman found in a 1952 Chevrolet

(CNN) -- A decades-old mystery that captivated Oklahoma has been solved after officials confirmed the identities of two groups of people -- some of them teens -- who went missing in 1969 and 1970.

The first crack in the cold cases came when police in the tiny town of Sayre were testing sonar equipment in September 2013 in murky Foss Lake. They were stunned to discover a green 1952 Chevrolet and a blue 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.

Human remains found in the Camaro matched the general descriptions of three teenagers -- Jimmy Allen Williams, 16, Leah Gail Johnson, 18, and Thomas Michael Rios, 18, all from Sayre, the state Medical Examiner's Office said.

Oklahoma lake bodies: Diver, trooper recount discovery

Sheriff's deputies found two cars submerged in Oklahoma's Foss Lake in September 2013, and DNA tests recently confirmed that the human remains inside those cars matched the descriptions of six people who went missing in 1969 and 1970. The state Medical Examiner's Office said the victims died from drowning and their deaths were accidental.

One of the vehicles found in the lake was a green 1952 Chevrolet -- the same make of vehicle in which John Alva Porter, then 69, was traveling in with Cleburn Hammack, 42, and Nora Marie Duncan, 58, on April 8, 1969.

The remains found in the second car, a blue 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, matched the descriptions of three teenagers who disappeared in 1970: Jimmy Williams, 16; Thomas Rios, 18; and Leah Johnson, 18.

Tim Porter, right, talks with Beckham County Sheriff's Deputy J. Kessel after giving a DNA sample at the scene in September 2013. Porter believed his grandfather's remains were in one of the cars.

Officials examine one of the cars in September 2013.

Investigators go through the vehicles in September 2013 to collect evidence as well as any human remains.

Investigators work on the older of the two vehicles last year.

The Camaro pulled from the lake is seen last year after investigators began their work.

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

Bodies, cars found in Oklahoma lake

2013: Sunken cars held human remains

The other remains matched the genders and ages of three passengers in the green Chevrolet who went missing in 1969, the medical examiner said last year.

John Alva Porter, then 69, was in that car with Cleburn Hammack, 42, and Nora Marie Duncan, 58.

DNA test results this week prove that the bodies belonged to the missing, the state Medical Examiner's Office said, adding that they all died from drowning and their deaths were accidental.

One night in 1970, another in 1969

The three teenagers who disappeared went for a ride around their hometown in Williams' blue Camaro with a white top, according to the Doe Network, a volunteer organization that helps law enforcement solve cold cases.

Only six days before the 16-year-old and his friends went missing, Williams had bought the used Camaro, a slick muscle car that teenage boys loved at that time, said Dayva Spitzer, publisher of The Sayre Record & Beckham County Democrat newspaper.

Johnson was Native American and, Spitzer said, was related to legendary Indian chief Sitting Bull. Residents regarded Johnson as an Indian princess, she told CNN.

Williams and his friends had planned to attend a football game the night they went missing, but they may have gone hunting instead, Spitzer said. Two rifles were found, rusted and corroded, in the Camaro.

In the other car, Porter, Duncan and Hammack were last seen when their car was "given a push" to help get it started, according to a July 1969 newspaper article published in Oklahoma.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, Michael Martinez and Ed Payne contributed to this report.