ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) —Authorities say DNA testing on skeletal remains found in a car pulled this year from a Northwest Illinois river confirmed they are those of two men who vanished in 1976, one of the men is from Jo Daviess County.
The Winnebago County Coroner’s Office said yesterday the testing by the Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services confirmed they are the remains of 72-year old Everett Hawley of Stockton and 65-year old Clarence Owens of Freeport.
More than 100 bones were retrieved from a car found in March in the Pecatonica River. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office says Hawley and Owens vanished after leaving a farm auction in that car in February 1976, near the Winnebago-Ogle County line.
The cause of death of both men is still unknown, but authorities say no foul play is suspected.