The case of an Auburn University student from Georgia who disappeared in January 1976 is now closed, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office said this week.
But it’s still unknown how Kyle Clinkscales died. The GBI listed his manner of death as “undetermined,” according to Troup Sheriff James Woodruff.
“At this time the case is considered closed unless further information is discovered,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.
The 22-year-old disappeared on Jan. 27, 1976, after leaving his bartending job in LaGrange to make the roughly 35-mile drive back to campus. For more than four decades, his body and vehicle were never found.
John and Louise Clinkscales continued to look for their only child for years after his disappearance. John, who published a memoir detailing Kyle’s disappearance, died in 2007. Louise died at a LaGrange hospice facility in 2021.
Though tips for investigators never yielded any clues, a major break in the case finally came three years ago.
On Dec. 7, 2021, deputies with the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama pulled a white 1974 Ford Pinto from an unnamed creek under County Road 83, a remote area between LaGrange and Auburn University. Deputies noticed a Troup County decal on the car and contacted the Troup County Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed it was the type of car Clinkscales had driven.
Inside the car, investigators found Clinkscales’ wallet, which had his ID inside. They also found several credit cards and bones that were stuck in thick mud, Woodruff told reporters at the time. The remains were sent to the GBI Crime Lab for further examination.
Credit: Troup County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Troup County Sheriff's Office
“For 45 years, we have looked for this young man and his car,” Woodruff added. “We drained lakes. We looked here and looked there, and it always turned out nothing. Then out of the blue, we got the car, his ID and hopefully his remains.”
In February 2023, investigators confirmed that the skeletal remains belonged to Clinkscales. An FBI lab assisted with the identification at the GBI’s request.
The Troup sheriff said he was grateful to other agencies that assisted with the investigation.
“I want to once again thank my team of investigators, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work to finally close this case after more than four decades,” Woodruff said.
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