(RepublicanPress.org) – On the morning of December 29, 2013, Donald Lee Erwin left his home in Camdenton, Missouri, to buy cigarettes and never returned. Fox 4 reported at the time that the disabled vet was driving a silver 2002 Hyundai Elantra and gave a description of the man. The Camdenton County Sheriff’s Department asked anyone with information to contact their office. Unfortunately, the case went cold — until recently.
On December 27, the New York Post reported that a YouTuber from the channel “Echo Divers” took it upon himself to look for the missing man. Weeks earlier, drone pilot and YouTuber James Hinkle deployed his aerial vehicle to search a lake in the Ozarks where Erwin was believed to have disappeared. Using freshwater mapping technology, the drone spotted the 2002 Hyundai Elantra at the bottom of the water.
YouTuber helps find remains of missing Missouri Army vet 10 years after he disappeared https://t.co/yfZBfACoKU pic.twitter.com/sacnJP8Ykd
— New York Post (@nypost) December 27, 2023
Hinkle’s team sent scuba divers to the site for a closer look and confirmed what they suspected — the vehicle was Erwin’s. On Christmas morning, Camden County Sheriff’s Office detectives confirmed the license plate on the vehicle was a match. Investigators also deployed cadaver dogs, who detected human remains, and an artificial hip was also found at the scene — the same kind Erwin had.
The sheriff’s office announced that police immediately notified the family of the discovery, bringing closure to the grieving family, and they thanked everyone who volunteered over the years to help close the case.
According to the New York Post, Erwin’s sister, Yvonne Erwin-Bowman, reacted to the news on Facebook. She was happy to finally know the whereabouts of her brother. Ms. Erwin-Bowman was glad he was “no longer in pain” but said she missed her sibling “terribly.”
Even though it appears Erwin has been found, detectives are still investigating to determine exactly what happened that fateful morning. Many people reportedly believed the man committed suicide, but Hinkle theorized that maybe his death was purely accidental.
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