Human remains found in search for Autumn McClure, 16-year-old Florida girl who vanished in 2004
Investigators in Florida have unearthed what they believe to be the remains of a 16-year-old girl who vanished nearly two decades ago.
Human remains tentatively identified as those of Autumn Lane McClure were unearthed Wednesday at the Shady Oaks mobile home park in Ormond Beach, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office announced.
McClure was reported missing by her grandmother on May 10, 2004, it added.
In the early days of the search, the teen’s grandmother received letters and phone calls from McClure that implied she would return home after she turned 18 — but she was never seen again, officials said.
“There really never is a ‘cold case,’” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Thursday during a media briefing.
“The men and women that are assigned to our Major Case Unit and all of our investigative units, that’s what they understand.”
While the formal identification is pending, McClure’s family has been informed of the discovery, the announcement stated.
“Not the result anyone hoped for in 2004 or ever since, but I am very proud of the work that went into this discovery 20 years later,” Chitwood wrote on X.
“At the very least we can say we never gave up on Autumn McClure’s case. Prayers and condolences to the family tonight,” he added.
The initial investigation into McClure’s disappearance suggested that she was staying with Jessica Freeman, a co-worker from her job at a nearby Winn-Dixie, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
The woman — who was not named publicly — and her boyfriend, Brian Christopher Donley Jr., lived in the Shady Oaks mobile home park at the time.
The couple told investigators that the teen stayed with them briefly, but that they did not know where she allegedly went after that.
In 2018, Freeman again denied having any knowledge of what happened to Autumn.
In 2021, however, a tipster contacted authorities and alleged that Donley and his girlfriend were involved in the death of a teenage girl in Volusia County.
After obtaining additional evidence to support the allegation, detectives reinterviewed Freeman who — after being granted a letter of immunity — admitted that Donley killed McClure in their trailer.
Although the mobile home plot had changed ownership over the years, detectives were able to arrange to move the trailer and concrete for excavation.
With the help of a team from the University of Florida’s Maples Center for Forensic Medicine, investigators used ground-penetrating radar to direct the dig, which eventually turned up a 99% complete set of human remains, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Donley died in 2022 at age 49, and cannot be prosecuted for the alleged murder, Chitwood said.
“I’m hoping to God that when he took his last breath on May 26 of 2022, that maybe he had a vision of where the hell he was headed,” he said of the late suspect.
“Cases like this are why we do what we do, and I’m extremely grateful to have been able to assist in this one,” Dr. Lerah Sutton of the Maples Center for Forensic Medicine added.
