20-year search for missing high school student leads to hidden grave, Florida cops say
The search for a 16-year-old Florida girl who vanished in 2004 may have come to an end with the discovery of an unmarked burial site in a mobile home park, according to investigators.
An excavation of the spot revealed human remains, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office reported Feb. 28.
“The remains are believed to be those of Autumn Lane McClure, a Mainland High School student who was last seen May 10, 2004, when her boyfriend dropped her off at the Volusia Mall,” the sheriff’s office said.
It is believed the girl was killed and buried at the mobile home park. However, much about her disappearance remains a mystery, including a cause of death.
It’s also a case where justice may never be served.
Brian Christopher Donley Jr. was identified as a person of interest in the case, but he died in 2022 at age 49, the sheriff’s office said.
McClure was reported missing by her grandmother and classified as an “endangered runaway,” according to The Charley Project.
Detectives say the girl had moved from her grandmother’s home in Ormond Beach and was “staying with a woman she worked with at an area Winn-Dixie,” the sheriff’s office said. Ormond Beach is about 60 miles northeast of Orlando.
“That woman and her boyfriend, Brian Donley, 31 at the time, lived at the Shady Oaks mobile home park. The couple told investigators Autumn stayed with them for only a short time, and they didn’t know where she went,” officials say.
“In 2021, a tipster contacted the sheriff’s office alleging that Donley and/or his girlfriend were responsible for the death of a teenage girl in Volusia County. Detectives followed up and obtained additional evidence supporting the tip.”
A letter of immunity was offered to Donley’s girlfriend in 2022, resulting her revealing “she witnessed Donley kill Autumn in the trailer, and that he threatened to do the same to her if she told anyone,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The property changed owners in the years since 2004, and a new trailer was placed on the lot in 2021,” officials said.
“The sheriff’s office arranged to have the trailer and concrete removed to allow for excavation. ... As of Thursday (Feb. 29), an estimated 99 percent or more of the remains had been recovered from the site.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2024 at 6:43 AM with the headline "20-year search for missing high school student leads to hidden grave, Florida cops say."