Remains found in creek belong to Auburn student missing for 47 years, GA cops say
Nearly 50 years after 22-year-old Kyle Clinkscales vanished, his remains were finally identified.
The identification solves a mystery that has baffled investigators for nearly five decades. They followed hundreds of leads, but didn’t make substantial progress in the case until Clinkscales’ car was pulled from a creek in Alabama in 2021, McClatchy News previously reported.
The Auburn University student had been driving the roughly 45 miles from his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, back to school the night of Jan. 27, 1976. But he and his Ford Pinto never arrived.
Inside the car when it was recovered were Clinkscales’ wallet, including his ID, and several bones believed to be human, McClatchy News previously reported.
Lab tests linked the bones to Clinkscales, Troup County Sheriff’s Office said in a Feb. 19 news release posted to Facebook.
Officials haven’t yet determined a cause of death, the release said.
Some shared in the Facebook post’s comments that they felt sad Clinkscales’ parents weren’t around to see the conclusion. They died without knowing what happened to their son, McClatchy News previously reported.
“Wish the Clinkscales were alive to see this,” someone wrote. “They suffered so much.”
“I couldn’t imagine the pain and heartache they lived with everyday never knowing,” someone else replied. “So sad.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2023 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Remains found in creek belong to Auburn student missing for 47 years, GA cops say."
