The remains of a Georgia college student who went missing nearly 50 years ago have been found in a car at the bottom of a creek, and an autopsy has now confirmed the identity.
Kyle Clinkscales, 22, was last seen on January 27, 1976, at the bar where he was employed and his sudden disappearance remained a mystery for decades.
On that fateful night, the student got into his white Ford Pinto with the intention of driving back to his school in Alabama, but he never made it to his destination, as reported by CNN.
Skeletal remains were recovered from a creek in Chambers County, Alabama, 45 years after he vanished, alongside the 1974 Ford Pinto in December 2021.
As cited by CNN, Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff said: "For 45 years, we have searched for Kyle and his car. We have followed hundreds of leads and never really had anything substantial develop from those leads."
The car was found after someone noticed it partially sticking out of the creek, with Woodruff remaining unsure if the area was searched after Clinkscales went missing due to it being three miles away from his normal route to the school.
A statement released by Troup County Sheriff's Office on February 19 read: "On December 7, 2021, a car belonging to missing person 22-year-old, Kyle Wade Clinkscales who disappeared on the night of January 27, 1976, was recovered from a creek in Chambers County, Alabama."
The statement continued: "The 1974 Ford Pinto was transported to the Troup County Sheriff’s Office and was processed by Investigators with the Troup County Sheriff’s Office and Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Personal belongings of Kyle Clinkscales along with skeletal remains were recovered and those remains were sent to the GBI Crime Lab for further examination.
"On February 19, 2023, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Troup County Coroner’s Office that those remains were positively identified as that of Kyle Clinkscales. The Coroner’s Office received this information from the GBI at which time they released it."
Investigations remain ongoing to clarify the cause of death, with investigators seeking to see if the death was a result of natural causes, a homicide, or if it was accidental.
Two suspects - Ray Hyde and Jimmy Earl Jones - were questioned 15 years after Clinkscales disappearance but nothing came from it, with Hyde maintaining that he didn't know the 22-year-old, per the Daily Mail.
Jones was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison in 2005 for providing police with false statements after he alleged that Hyde had shot Clinkscales and he had helped hide the body.
Clinkscales parents spent the remainder of their lives searching for their son, offering large cash rewards to any who had any information.
Sadly they would never see the day that their son's remains were found, as his father, John, passed away in 2006 and his mother, Louise, died in 2021.
