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Georgia authorities find missing Auburn student's car

Cold Case Car Found
Posted at 1:46 PM, Dec 15, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-15 13:51:44-05

Authorities in Georgia announced a breakthrough in a 45-year-old cold case.

Troup County Sheriff's Office announced on Facebook that they found the car of missing Auburn University student Kyle Clinkscales, who went missing on January 27, 1976, driving back to school.

In the car, they found personal belongings which appeared to have belonged to Clinkscales.

They also found 50 different skeletal remains, including a partial skull bone, which will be sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for further analysis.

According to the Associated Press, the 22-year-old was heading back to the university from LaGrange after leaving his bartending job at the LaGrange Moose Club at around 11 p.m. in his 1974 two-door Ford Pinto when he and his vehicle disappeared.

On Dec. 7, deputies were called out to a creek for what appeared to be a submerged car.

After checking the car tag, deputies said the car tag and VIN matched that of a 1974 Ford Pinto, the same car the student was last seen driving.

The AP reported that at a news conference, Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff said they might never know how Clinkscales died.

The news outlet reported that Woodruff said the 22-year-old might have accidentally run off the road, but he's not ruling out foul play.

Former Sheriff Donny Turner told the AP he isn't ruling out homicide.

Turner told the news outlet that he believes Jimmy Earl Jones was at the scene and that Jones was correctly prosecuted for lying to investigators.

The AP reported that Jones pleaded guilty in 2006 to two counts of false statements.