Missouri Citizen Sleuth Cracks 10-Year Local Mystery

James Hinkle discovered the missing car and likely remains of Donnie Erwin in Missouri
By Gina Carey,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2024 1:55 PM CST
Amateur Sleuth Cracks Cold Case of Missing Vet
James Hinkle in a kayak on the day he discovered Erwin's car submerged in a pond.   (YouTube.com / Echo Divers)

Citizen sleuth James Hinkle has developed a unique set of skills over the years—drone camera operator, rescue diver, and volunteer firefighter—and per the Washington Post, they've helped him crack a 10-year cold case. In December, Hinkle's nearly two years of investigating waterways helped recover the missing car and likely remains of Donnie Erwin, a veteran who left his Missouri home in 2013 to buy cigarettes and never returned, per KY3. "I try not to be too proud of myself," Hinkle tells the Post. "I wanted to go out and go to work, and do something nice for this guy that I'd never met."

While Hinkle's fascination with cases of missing persons began in the early '90s, he never actively joined in on the growing movement of online sleuths. But when he learned the story of Erwin, a Vietnam Navy veteran, he felt a personal connection to the case: Hinkle's son had recently joined the Marines. By the time he joined the search in 2022, efforts into Erwin's case had dwindled, but Hinkle organized new searches. He broke out his drones to scout from the air, went on dives in quarries and other bodies of water, and used sonar equipment on his kayak to search their depths.

Hinkle changed tactics in December when he decided to search close by Erwin's residence in Camdenton. He saw a tire floating in a private pond just five miles from Erwin's mobile home, according to the New York Times, which he says got his "nerves a' jumping." Two days later, he rigged his kayak with an underwater camera and located the wreckage. When authorities recovered the algae-covered Hyundai Elantra, it had Erwin's plates, and remains discovered included a metal hip similar to Erwin's. The discovery is both a relief and a "new heartbreak," says Erwin's sister, Yvonne Erwin-Bowen. "Even though I knew in my heart he was gone—accepting the reality is a whole different thing." A pending autopsy report is expected to confirm Erwin's identify. (These 10 cold cases were closed in 2023.)

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