Law enforcement officials in Florida say they believe they have found the body of a 16-year-old girl who went missing nearly 20 years ago.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that detectives and forensics units discovered human remains at a mobile home park in Ormond Beach that belong to 16-year-old Autumn McClure, who was reported missing in 2004. announced that it may be.
“There really is no such thing as a ‘cold case,'” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a press conference Thursday. “The men and women of our Major Incident Unit and all of our investigative units understand that.”
McClure was reported missing from her grandmother’s home in Ormond Beach on May 10, 2004, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives learned early in the investigation that McClure’s grandmother had received letters and phone calls from McClure saying he was doing well and would return when he turned 18.
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Autumn McClure went missing in 2004, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced that her body may have been found buried under a trailer in Ormond Beach, Florida. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators also discovered that McClure was staying with a woman he worked with at Winn-Dixie and the woman’s boyfriend, Brian Donley, 31. The two lived in a mobile home park in Shady Oaks, and McClure told investigators they had only been together for a short period of time.
The investigation continued over the next few years, and Donley’s girlfriend was interviewed again in 2018, but she denied knowing anything about the teenager’s disappearance.
Three years later, the Sheriff’s Office received information alleging that Donley and/or his girlfriend were responsible for the death of a teenage girl in Volusia County. Investigators followed up with the informant and additional evidence was provided.
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Autumn McClure went missing in 2004, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced that her body may have been found buried under a trailer in Ormond Beach, Florida. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office)
In 2022, detectives interviewed the girlfriend again and gave her a release to obtain further information.
During questioning, Donley’s girlfriend said she saw Donley kill McClure in the trailer and threatened to do the same to her if she told anyone, the sheriff’s office said.
In the 20 years since McClure’s disappearance, the land where the trailer sat has changed hands several times, and a new trailer was placed there in 2021.
The sheriff’s office was able to remove the trailer, along with the concrete on top, to allow for excavation of the site this week.
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Autumn McClure went missing in 2004, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office says her body may have been found buried under a trailer in Ormond Beach, Florida. are doing. (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office)
Dr. Lela Sutton and her team at the University of Florida Maples Forensic Science Center assisted with the excavation, including logistics, planning, and ground-penetrating radar deployment to locate the target area.
By Thursday, about 99% of the human remains had been recovered from the scene, but matching the remains to McClure was still pending.
Still, the sheriff’s office notified McClure’s family of the discovery.
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The sheriff’s office said Donley died in 2022 at the age of 49, so they could not be charged with the same crime if there was an actual match.
“I hope to God that when he took his last breath on May 26, 2022, he had a vision of where he was going,” Chitwood said.
