Cause of death ‘undetermined’ for Georgia student found in car 45 years after he vanished

TROUP COUNTY, Ga. — A sheriff’s office has closed the cold case of a Georgia student who disappeared decades ago after a crime lab listed his cause of death as “underdetermined.”

Kyle Clinkscales, then 22, disappeared in Jan. 1976 on his way back to Auburn University from LaGrange, Ga. The case went cold, but 45 years later, Clinkscales’ car was found in an Alabama creek.

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The Troup County Sheriff’s Office says they found skeletal remains that belonged to Clinkscales. This week, investigators received a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that listed the manner of death as “undetermined.”

Sheriff James Woodruff says his office is marking the case as closed unless more information is found.

“I want to once again thank my team of Investigators, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations 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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Clinkscales was last seen leaving the Moose Club in LaGrange around 11 p.m. the night of Jan. 27, 1976. Clinkscales worked as a bartender at the club two nights a week. He was driving back to Auburn University when he disappeared.

On Dec. 8, 2021, Troup County officials were notified that a 1974 Pinto Runabout believed to have belonged to Clinkscales was pulled out of a body of water off of County Road 83 in Chambers County, Alabama.

“For 45 years, we have looked for this young man and his car. We drained lakes. We looked here and looked there and it always turned out nothing,” Troup County Woodruff said when the remains were found in 2021. “Then, out of the blue, we got the car, his ID, and hopefully his remains.”

In Feb. 2022, officials positively identified the remains belonged to the college student.

The Clinkscales family always thought they would get answers. But Kyle’s father died in 2007 and his mother died in 2021 at the age of 92, never knowing what happened to their son.

“It was always her hope that he would come home. Always our hope that we would find him for her. Just fact that we found him and his car brings me a big sigh of relief,” the sheriff said.

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Bones found in submerged car linked to Auburn University junior student missing since 1976 (NCD)

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