Over 50 different skeletal remains found in missing Georgia student’s vehicle

(CNN) – Investigators found 50 different skeletal remains, including a partial skull bone, during the search process Thursday among the remains of Kyle Clinkscales’ vehicle, according to the Troup County Sheriff’s Office.

A 1974 Ford Pinto car that authorities say belonged to a Georgia college student who went missing 45 years ago was found Tuesday in a creek in Alabama’s Chambers County.

“On Wednesday morning, a special agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, along with the help of our Criminal Investigations Division, began the delicate process of searching Kyle Clinkscales’ car that was recovered Tuesday,” the statement reports. .

In the statement they add: “The process will conclude today and several personal effects that appear to have belonged to Kyle have been recovered from the vehicle.”

The skeletal remains will be sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for further analysis, according to the statement.

The case

Kyle Clinkscales, student at the Auburn University, was last seen on the night of January 27, 1976, as he left his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, to return to campus in his 1974 Ford Pinto, according to Troup County, Georgia Sheriff James Woodruff. , at a press conference on Wednesday, the day after the car was found.

LaGrange is located north of Columbus in western Georgia, and is about 20 miles from the Alabama state line.

On Tuesday, someone called 911 to report that they had seen what appeared to be a car in a creek along County Road 83, a mile from County Road 388, said Commander Terry Wood of the Department of the Chambers County Sheriff, Alabama.

When authorities arrived, they saw the partially submerged vehicle, which Wood said was visible from the two-lane highway that runs over the creek.

Chambers County Sheriff Sid Lockhart said the car was found about three miles away from what would have been Clinkscales’ normal route back to school. Lockhart said it did not know if the area had been searched when Clinkscales initially disappeared.

Amy Simonson, Gregory Lemos, and David Williams contributed to this report.