Remains of Student Identified 47 Years After He Went Missing, Cause of Death Is Still a Mystery
Troup County Sheriff's Office Kyle Clinkscales
Authorities were able to identify the remains of an Auburn University student who went missing in 1976, although there are still questions surrounding his death.
Kyle Wade Clinkscales, 22, disappeared on the night of Jan. 27, 1976, according to the Troup County Sheriff's Office.
He was last seen at the Moose Club in LaGrange, Ga., according to NBC affiliate WXIA-TV. Per the outlet, the student used to tend bar there and left to drive back to Auburn that night.
Decades later, in December 2021, his 1974 Ford Pinto was recovered from a creek in Chambers County, Ala., police said. Afterwards, investigators and agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation recovered skeletal remains as well as personal items belonging to the student. The remains were then sent to the GBI Crime Lab for additional examination.
Over a year later, the Troup County Sheriff's Office received notification that "those remains were positively identified as that of Kyle Clinkscales."
In their press release, police noted that an official report "has not yet been completed or released by the GBI as it relates to a manner of death."
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Police say for years "there were so many theories and so many questions" regarding the case, according to Atlanta News First.
"It was always a big mystery in Troup County," said Sgt. Stewart Smith. "Hopefully now getting that confirmation can at least bring that closure and those questions to what family and friends are still out there that knew Kyle."
Although the GBI is working to determine a cause of death, Smith said that's one aspect of the case that may never be solved.
"Due to the time that it's been and it was in the water, we may not know," he told the outlet.
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For years, the student's death was investigated as a possible murder, according to WXIA-TV.
The outlet reported that in 2006, a man claimed that Clinkscales was fatally shot, but prosecutors later said the man had changed his story too many times to be a credible witness.
The man was sent to prison for hindering the investigation, according to The Guardian, which also reported that no homicide charges were ever filed.
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When the student's car was found in 2021, along with his wallet and bones, authorities said they were "glad" to finally have some answers.
"We're glad today," Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff said at the time, according to WXIA-TV. "For 45 years we've looked for this young man and looked for this car. We've drained lakes. We've looked here and looked there. It always turned out with nothing."
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Unfortunately, Clinkscales' parents did not live long enough to learn that his remains had been positively identified.
His mother died in January and his father died in 2007, according to WXIA-TV.
"It was always her hope that he would come home," Woodruff said in 2021, the outlet reported. "It was always our hope that we would find him for her before she passed away."
