The remains of a Missouri veteran who had been missing for a decade were found Sunday thanks to the help of a dedicated YouTuber.
Investigators believe the remains, as well as an artificial hip, belong to Donnie Erwin, a man who disappeared on December 29, 2013 in Camdenton, a city located in the Ozarks.
Erwin was last seen driving a 2002 Hyundai Elantra almost 10 years ago.
The same car was removed from a local lake earlier this month after YouTuber and drone pilot James Hinkle spotted it during his own search for the missing man, a nearly year-long journey he chronicled on his popular channel “ “Echo Divers”.
Hinkle, who has more than a million subscribers, found the vehicle on December 14 while using freshwater mapping technology.
Divers from the vlogger’s team jumped into the water to take a closer look at the algae-covered car and confirm that it was the one Erwin was last seen driving almost exactly a decade earlier.
Investigators believe the remains belong to Donnie Erwin, who disappeared on December 29, 2013 in Camdenton. Facebook / FIND DONNIE ERWIN
“It’s confirmed. That’s the vehicle,” one of the team members says somberly in a recent video.
Camden County Sheriff’s Office detectives confirmed the license plates matched Erwin’s, but it took another week for cadaver dogs to detect human remains.
Investigators also found an artificial hip that matches the one Erwin had.
Donnie Erwin was last seen in a 2002 Hyundai Elantra (pictured) almost 10 years ago. Detectives with the Camden County, MO Sheriff’s Office confirmed the license plates matched those of Donnie Erwin in Camdenton. Facebook / FIND DONNIE ERWIN
Although a forensic pathologist has yet to determine if the remains are those of Erwin, investigators are “confident that the hip and remains belong to him,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Wow brother. What a special Christmas this is. Even if you are not with us, we know where you are now and we can rejoice in that. I love you brother and miss you so much, but I know it was God’s will that brought you to us and I know you are no longer in pain,” Erwin’s sister, Yvonne Erwin-Bowen, wrote on Facebook after the news.
Detectives are still working to find out how Erwin ended up in the water when he was smoking an early morning cigarette 10 years earlier.
The 2002 Hyundai Elantra was pulled from a lake after YouTuber James Hinkle spotted it during his own search for the missing man. Camden County Sheriff’s Office, MO
Although a common theory was that Erwin committed suicide, Hinkle also hypothesized that the Army veteran’s death could have been a pure accident.
“At that time he would have left his house and it would still be dark. One of the other things Donnie didn’t take was his glasses,” Hinkle said in a video from July.
“It’s dark, he can’t see either. Could it have been an accident? Could it be that simple?”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn