Deaths of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier

Deaths of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier

Archambeau (left) and Bruguier
Date	December 12, 1992 – March 10, 1993 (1992-12-12 – 1993-03-10)
Time	Unknown
Location	Near Lake Andes, South Dakota, U.S.
Coordinates	43°08′59″N 98°31′19″W / 43.1497°N 98.5219°W / 43.1497; -98.5219
Cause	Hypothermia; manner undetermined
Burial	Native American Cemetery; Greenwood, South Dakota (Bruguier)

Just before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1992, Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier, aged 20 and 18 respectively, left a car Archambeau had been driving following an accident at an intersection near Lake Andes, South Dakota, United States. They left Bruguier's 17-year-old cousin, Tracy Dion, in the car without any explanation as to where they might be going, and their whereabouts remained unknown for the next three months. One woman told police later that she had seen Archambeau at a New Year's Eve party, but their families never saw the couple, who had a young child together.

In early March 1993, the bodies of Archambeau and Bruguier were found in a water-filled depression between the accident site and a disused railroad right-of-way a short distance from the road. The cause of death was determined to be exposure, but investigators found the deaths suspicious, believing that the two had not died right after the accident. Both the Charles Mix County sheriff at the time and one of his deputies had visited the scene in the intervening months, when the weather was warm and there was minimal snow; neither had seen the bodies at those times, and others who had been in the area made similar statements.

Other aspects of the bodies suggested that the two might have died elsewhere, and perhaps at different times. Bruguier's body had to be identified by a tattoo as it was in an advanced state of decomposition; it was dressed in the clothes she was wearing the night of the accident, but without the shoes and glasses. Archambeau's body, found underwater in the depression, showed far less decomposition. A set of keys found in his pocket was never found to match any house or car in the area.

A segment of the television series Unsolved Mysteries,^[1] filmed at the site, aired in 1995.^[2] The FBI took over the investigation, but closed it in 1999 as it could not find any evidence that a crime had been committed.^[3] Local law enforcement who were involved in the investigation believe that at the very least the couple's bodies were placed there after they died somewhere else.