45 years after he vanished, an Auburn student’s automobile was discovered in a creek in Alabama, and his remains have been positively identified.
The Troup County Sheriff’s Office said in a press statement that the remains of 22-year-old Kyle Clinkscales were positively identified by the Troup County Coroner’s Office on Monday. Clinkscales’ 1974 Ford Pinto was searched in 2021 and the corpses were discovered inside.
According to the sheriff’s office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation requested an analysis of the remains from an FBI lab, but as of this writing, no official report has been completed or released concerning the cause of death.
An Auburn student’s body was recovered in a car in what authorities now know to be The 1974 Pinto that Clinkscales was driving on his way back to Auburn University from Georgia in 1976 has been positively identified, more than a year after its discovery by investigators. In December of 2021, a man contacted 911 to report seeing what he thought was an automobile in a creek.
It was reported at the time by Troup County, Georgia Sheriff James Woodruff that inside Clinkscales’ automobile authorities discovered what they thought to be human remains, as well as Clinkscales’ identifying documents and credit cards.
CBS station WHNT reported that Clinkscales quit his job at the Moose Club, a tavern in his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, on January 27, 1976. He was supposed to travel the 35 miles to Auburn University in Alabama, but he never made there.
Clinkscales’ death, according to Troup County officials, was previously reported. According to media sources, two persons were detained in 2005 in connection with his disappearance after authorities got information from a guy who claimed to have seen the disposal of the body of the boy, then 7 years old, by placing it in a barrel with concrete and dumping it in a pond.
The two defendants were charged with perjury. The current district attorney, Pete Skandalakis, claims he decided against filing charges against one of the suspects. The second one served seven years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of making false statements. Forty-five years after he vanished, in an Alabama creek.
The Troup County Sheriff’s Office said in a press statement that the remains of 22-year-old Kyle Clinkscales were positively identified by the Troup County Coroner’s Office on Monday. Clinkscales’ 1974 Ford Pinto was searched in 2021 and the corpses were discovered inside.
According to the sheriff’s office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation requested an analysis of the remains from an FBI lab, but as of this writing, no official report has been completed or released concerning the cause of death.