YouTube channel Adventures with Purpose cracks 18-year-old cold case in Pennsylvania

On December 4, 2003, James Amabile disappeared near his home in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania. For more than 18 years, the case remained unsolved. Then Adventures with Purpose decided to have a look.

Adventures with Purpose (AWP) is a YouTube channel that has received more than 200 million views and brought in more than two million subscribers since launching in 2018. AWP is well known for pursuing unsolved incidents, and the channel’s work has led to breakthroughs in 20 different cold cases, according to diver Doug Bishop.

AWP’s specialty is diving, and the Amabile case allowed the channel to show off its underwater skills. Ridley Township is a suburban community on the outskirts of Philadelphia, right next to a body of water called Darby Creek. Amabile’s last-known contact was with a babysitter who lives near the creek, which suggested to Bishop and co. that the then-38-year-old man had taken a wrong turn (due to the effects of diabetic shock) and drove himself into the water.

Using technology that was not available in 2002, AWP identified a car at the bottom of the creek. The channel’s dive team went to check out the wreck and came back up with the license plate, which matched Amabile’s missing vehicle. Human remains were also found in the car, though their identity has not yet been made public.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything. I’ve gotten used to not expecting anything, and I tuned a lot of things out,” Amabile’s brother Stephen told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But it didn’t take them very long to figure out there was an SUV down there.”

AWP will post a fully-edited vlog video detailing the search effort. To tide viewers over until that video goes up, the channel hosted a live stream, in which its members thanked the local police department and Amabile’s family for their assistance with the case. “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,” reads the live stream’s video description.

In addition to the 20 cold cases AWP has cracked, Bishop noted that the channel’s community has contributed to breakthroughs in eight additional cases. He could not offer details about the projects AWP will work on next, as much of that information is confidential. However, he noted that his team is always looking for new cases to explore, and he prompted anyone with a tempting lead to email support@adventureswithpurpose.com.