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NEAR NOVINGER, MO. -- A couple of local teenagers made an unusual discovery during their afternoon adventure kayaking on the Chariton River.

They found a bright red Chevy pickup in the water near Novinger Monday afternoon.

Only the top of the tailgate was visible.

Brennen Bloskovich, 17, of Kirksville and his friend are the ones who discovered the truck in the river.

At first, they said they thought maybe someone had just dumped the bed of a pickup into the water, but they used their oars to feel below the surface and could tell it was a whole pickup.

The truck is owned by Greg Gremaud of Kirksville, who just reported it missing from a Kirksville repair shop Monday morning.

"I took it in to get it worked on on Thursday. It wasn't ready on Friday, early afternoon when I called. I assumed they had it over the weekend, and I called them this morning to find out whether it was finished. They informed me it was no longer on their lot," said Gremaud.

The guys at the repair shop assumed Gremaud had picked up the truck over the weekend.

That wasn't the case. That’s when Gremaud called police to report it missing.

The two Novinger teens then found the truck late Monday afternoon and reported it to the Adair County Sheriff's Department.

It appeared the person who stole the truck cut several doughnuts in the muddy field before running the truck off a small cliff and into the Chariton River.  

Investigators called in heavy equipment to pull the truck from the water. No one was inside.