Volusia County Sheriff's Office identifies found remains as those of missing Ormond Beach girl

Autumn Lane McClure went missing in 2004. On Feb. 28, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office found her body after excavating a lot in a local mobile home park.

By Observer Staff
| 9:00 a.m. March 8, 2024

VSO's Crime Scene Unit personnel and a rapid DNA scientist developed a profile from DNA extracted from the recovered bones. Courtesy photo

Ormond Beach Observer
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The Volusia County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Unit has positively identified the human remains found in an Ormond Beach-area mobile home park on Feb. 28 as those of Autumn Lane McClure, a local teen who went missing 20 years ago.

McClure, who was 16 at the time of her disappearance on May 10, 2004, was discovered to have been staying with a couple who lived in Shady Oaks mobile home park, located at 1320 Hand Ave. The suspect in her murder, Brian Christopher Donley Jr., is believed to have strangled McClure because she wished to go home. Donley died at 49 years old in 2022.

McClure's remains were found underneath a trailer in the mobile home park.

VSO reported on Thursday that its Crime Scene Unit personnel and a rapid DNA scientist developed a profile from DNA extracted from the recovered bones, which was then compared to DNA samples from McClure's family members. This resulted in a match.

"Rather than sending DNA to a state lab for analysis, the use of VSO's in-house ANDE Rapid DNA technology significantly reduced the time it took to make an official identification for the family," VSO stated on its Facebook page.