Mystery solved? Two arrested in connection with NYC’s sewer emergence

Court records released Friday show the two men were seen emerging from underground at about 1:38 a.m. Wednesday, according to a criminal complaint. Around 4 a.m. That same morning, investigators say the pair got back into vehicles and drove in tandem over the Queensboro Bridge, where automatic license plate readers picked up the vehicles' VIN information.

The arrests appear to answer questions about a sighting that had people online and in the neighborhood buzzing this week, after footage circulated showing men climbing out of the city's underground system in the middle of the night.

For residents near East 61st and Park Avenue, the arrests close out an unsettling few days of wondering who, or what, was moving beneath the street. It also shows how quickly modern surveillance tools, in this case automatic plate readers on a bridge crossing, can turn a viral mystery into two names and a court date.

In the end, an eerie video became two arrests within hours.