A cold case that has gone unsolved for nearly fifty years gained a little bit closer to being solved. Over the weekend, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release confirming the positive identity of Kyle Wade Clinkscales whose remains were discovered in 2019 in a creek in nearby Cussetta.
“On January 27, 1976, Kyle Wade Clinkscales and his 1974 Pinto Runabout were last seen at the Moose Club in Lagrange, Georgia. Despite exhaustive investigational efforts over the following 46 years, neither Mr. Clinkscales nor his vehicle was located”, said TCSO in a release.
On December 8, 2021, Troup County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Chambers County Sheriff’s Office that a 1974 Pinto Runabout, belonging to Mr. Clinkscales, had been located submerged in a body of water off of County Road 83 in Chambers County, Alabama. The vehicle was transported to Troup County at which point investigators located skeletal remains.
“On the night of January 27, 1976, 22-year-old, Kyle Wade Clinkscales left LaGrange to travel back to Auburn University where he was a student. However, he never arrived and neither he nor his white two-door 1974 Pinto Runabout was ever found”, said Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff in December of 2019 in a press conference with local media.
“Once they arrived on the scene, they recovered the car from the water and it appeared to be an older model Ford passenger car with a 1976 Georgia tag with a Troup County decal. Chambers County contacted the Troup County Sheriff’s Office for assistance in trying to run the tag information. The Troup County tag office was contacted and investigators in our criminal investigations division began to check for any records we may have had.
After verifying information, it was found that the tag and VIN matched that of a 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout which was the same car that Kyle Clinkscales was last seen driving on the night of January 27th”, added Woodruff.
The remains were turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations for DNA analysis. On February 19, 2023, the Troup County Coroner’s office was notified that the remains have been positively identified as Kyle Wade Clinkscales.
At this time the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined and the case remains under investigation by the Troup County Sheriff’s Office.
