Remains of girl, 16, who went missing in 2004 found in mobile home park

11 March 2024 , 00:33

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Autumn was killed by Brian Donley - and Donley's partner Jessica Freeman kept it a secret as Donley threatened to kill her if she said anything (Image: Volusia County Sheriff's Office)

The body of a 16-year-old girl who went missing in 2004 have been recovered years after she disappeared at a mobile home park in Florida.

Authorities have confirmed that the remains found late last month at Ormond Beach have now been positively identified as teenager Autumn McClure.

Autumn was reported missing by her grandmother in May 2004 after her boyfriend said he dropped her off at a shopping mall.

Her boyfriend later said he actually left her at a bridge where she then got into a car with a woman called Jessica Freeman.

Investigators found that Autumn was actually staying with Freeman, who she worked with at a Winn-Dixie supermarket, and Freeman's boyfriend, Brian Donley, who was 31 at the time. All three were involved in a romantic relationship.

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Autumn was reported missing by her grandmother in May 2004 after her boyfriend said he dropped her off at a shopping mall (Volusia County Sheriff's Office)

Freeman and Donley lived on the Shady Oaks mobile home park. Freeman and Donley told investigators that Autumn only stayed with them for a short amount of time and they had no knowledge of her whereabouts when she was reported missing.

Years after her disappearance the sheriff's office received a tip off claiming that Donley or his girlfriend were responsible for the death of a teenage girl and it happened in Volusia County. When investigators then followed up, the tipster provided them with more evidence.

When Donley died during an operation in 2022, Freeman was given a letter of immunity and confessed that she saw Donley killing Autumn.

Authorities confirmed that the remains found late last month at Ormond Beach have now been positively identified as Autumn McClure (UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Sheriff Mike Chitwood said: "She came home one afternoon and saw Brian choking Autumn in the bathroom. By the time she intervened, she saw that Autumn was lifeless, and she left the trailer". Freeman then said to investigators that Donley threatened to kill her if she ever said anything about the murder, and she is not a suspect.

In the 20 years since Autumn went missing, the property the trailer sat on has changed hands multiple times. A new trailer was then placed there in 2021.

But the sheriff's office had the trailer and the concrete it sat on removed so the property could be excavated last week, and Autumn's remains were found.

Even though Donley won't face justice in this life, Chitwood added: "I’m hoping to God that when he took his last breath on May 26 of 2022, that maybe he had a vision of where the hell he was headed."

Lucy Skoulding