Authorities looking for a Georgia (USA) college student who had been missing for more than 45 years found his car in an Alabama creek on Wednesday (8). In the vehicle were the identity card and supposed mortal remains.
Kyle Clinkscales, a student at Auburn University, was last seen on the night of January 27, 1976, as he left his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, to return to campus in his 1974 Ford Pinto, Sheriff James Woodruff said in a press conference on Wednesday (8), the day after the discovery.
The 22-year-old never made it to Alabama school. He and the car were never seen again—until, perhaps, now.
“For 45 years we’ve been looking for Kyle and his car. We followed hundreds of tracks and never had anything substantial developed from those tracks,” said Woodruff.
He said they drained lakes and conducted several searches in hopes of finding Clinkscales. LaGrange is north of Columbus in western Georgia, about 20 miles from the Alabama state line.
On Tuesday, someone called 911 to report seeing what appeared to be a car in a stream near County Road 83, about a mile off County Road 388, he said. Major Terry Wood of Chambers County, Alabama.
When authorities arrived they saw the vehicle partially submerged, which Wood said was visible from the two-lane road that cuts through the creek.
Chambers County Sheriff Sid Lockhart said the car was found about three miles away from what would be Clinkscales’ normal route back to school. Lockhart said he did not know if the area was searched when Clinkscales initially disappeared.
The car’s trunk was open, but Lockhart said he doesn’t know if it opened after years in the water, or if the water level in the creek has dropped.
After taking the vehicle out of the water, local authorities determined that it was a white Ford Pinto with Troup County license plate.
Local authorities then contacted the Troup County Sheriff’s Office, which analyzed the tag number in their system and determined it was Clinkscales’ car, Woodruff said.
objects in the vehicle
Woodruff said the car’s top “is completely” rusted, but authorities discovered a wallet, credit cards, Clinkscales ID and several bones.
“We believe they are human in nature. We call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They’re currently at our facility taking that car apart and, if they can, looking at what’s in it to determine how many bones are there and if they’re actually your bones,” Woodruff said.
Woodruff said he hopes the cause of death can be determined, “but we may never know.”
“Just the fact that we’ve hopefully found it and the car gives me a big sigh of relief,” Woodruff said, adding that Clinkscales’ mother passed away earlier this year, still waiting for her son to come home.
Clinkscales’ father died in 2007, Woodruff said. Clinkscales was an only child.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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