Coroner Identifies Remains Found in Car in River as Men Missing Since 1976

An Illinois coroner’s office has identified on Wednesday the remains of two men who disappeared in 1976 after a vehicle submerged in an Illinois river was recovered earlier this year.
DNA testing confirmed the remains belong to Clarence Owens, 65, and Everett Hawley, 72, who vanished after attending a farm auction in February 1976, according to officials from the Winnebago County Coroner’s Office.
The remains were found after a car, a 1966 Chevrolet Impala, was discovered in March by local fishermen using sonar in the Pecatonica River, a waterway located approximately 100 miles west of Chicago. Authorities pulled the vehicle from the river, uncovering more than 100 skeletal bones inside, according to the Rockford Register Star.
These bones were then sent for forensic analysis as DNA was extracted and tested by the Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services, who compared the DNA to the men’s relatives, conclusively identifying Owens and Hawley.
While the discovery brings some long-awaited closure to the men’s families, questions remain regarding the circumstances of their deaths as authorities have not determined how the two men died.
However, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana expressed hope that the new development will provide comfort to the families, who have waited nearly half a century for answers.
“This bring us one step closer to providing closure to the families of Clarence Owens and Everett Hawley who have waited many years for answers that have been affected by this tragic case,” Caruana said in a statement.
Newsweek has reached out to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s office via online email form for comment.
Hawley, a real estate broker from Stockton, Illinois, and Owens from Freeport, a salesperson at Hawley’s firm, were last seen leaving a farm auction near the Winnebago-Ogle county line on February 19, 1976. Their sudden disappearance baffled investigators for years.
The forensic anthropologist who initially examined the remains found no signs of trauma, leaving the cause of death undetermined.
Although the investigation continues, no foul play is currently suspected, Winnebago County Coroner Jennifer Muraski told WIFR-TV.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s identification marks the continued development of DNA testing as this is not the first time human remains have been identified after several years.
In August, human remains discovered over 20 years ago near a Knoxville, Tennessee, interstate highway were identified with genetic testing, according to the Knox County government.
The remains were originally found in November of 2003 when the Knoxville Police Department began investigating after someone noticed a body on I-275 at the Woodlawn entrance ramp.
The Knoxville Police Department, along with an anthropology team from the University of Tennessee, conducted the initial recovery and examination of the remains. It is unclear in what state the body was in when found.
Despite their efforts, identifying the remains proved challenging. A DNA sample of the remains was submitted to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in 2008, but it wasn’t until recent advancements in forensic methods that a breakthrough was made.
In 2017, the Regional Forensic Center resumed the investigation, determining that the remains belonged to a white male, approximately 5 feet tall and between the ages of 40 and 60.
Finally, in 2022, Knox County secured a federal grant to hire Othram, a private company known for solving cold cases through DNA analysis and genealogy. Othram then successfully identified the remains, which were confirmed by genetic testing, belonged to Brian A. Sanderson, a 54-year-old originally from Vermont.