CBS News
Skeletal remains inside car found by fishermen in Illinois river identified as men who disappeared in 1976
DNA testing on skeletal remains found in a car pulled from an Illinois river confirmed they are those of two men who vanished in 1976 after leaving a farm auction, authorities said.
Testing performed by the Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services confirmed they are the remains of Clarence Owens and Everett Hawley, the Winnebago County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.
Hawley, 72, of Stockton, Illinois, and Owens, 65, of Freeport, Illinois, vanished after leaving a farm auction on Feb. 19, 1976, near the Winnebago-Ogle county line, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office said
Hawley was a real estate broker in Freeport, while Owens was a salesperson in Hawley’s firm.
“This bring us one step closer to providing closure to the families of Clarence Owens and Everett Hawley who have waited many years for answers that have been affected by this tragic case,” Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said in a statement.
In March, people fishing along the Pecatonica River discovered a submerged vehicle in the river using a sonar fish finder.
“It’s quite challenging because it’s sitting in the mud, 8 to 10 feet, which is not that deep but deep enough,” Sheriff Caruana told CBS affiliate WIFR-TV after the discovery.
Recovery crews then used a crane to pull the 1966 Chevrolet Impala sedan from the river in the village of Pecatonica, the Rockford Register Star reported. The men had left the farm auction in that vehicle, authorities said.
Owens and Hawley were seen at the farm auction with the Impala, which belonged to Owens and which had a new coat of gold paint at the time, according to the Doe Network, a nonprofit database for information about missing and unidentified people. The men had attended a political rally in the area before stopping at the auction, and planned to make a shared appointment in German Valley, about 25 miles west of Winnebago County, after leaving the auction. They never made that appointment
More than 100 bones were retrieved from the vehicle and the river at the site about 100 miles west of Chicago. DNA extracted from the bones was compared with DNA profiles from the men’s relatives to identify them.
Before the DNA testing, the remains were examined by a forensic anthropologist in St. Louis, Missouri, who found no evidence of trauma.
Winnebago County Coroner Jennifer Muraski told WIFR-TV that how the two men died is still unknown, but no foul play is suspected.
“This is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our detectives and forensic experts,” Sheriff Caruana said. “It’s a reminder that no case is ever truly closed no matter how much time has passed.”
contributed to this report.
CBS News
Black women have higher risk of dying from all types of breast cancer, new study finds
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Francis Scott Key Bridge victim’s wife wants legal action against Dali ship company
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Black women have higher risk of death from all types of breast cancer, study finds
Black women are about 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than White women, but new research is showing this applies to all forms of the disease — and examines why.
In the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology Tuesday, researchers found black women are at higher risk of dying from all tumor subtypes of breast cancer, with the size of this disparity varying from 17% to 50% depending on the type of breast cancer.
The research used data from 18 studies that were published between 2009 and 2022, analyzing a total of 228,885 breast cancer cases, 34,262 of which were in Black women.
“These findings underscore a stark reality in our healthcare system: Black women are facing higher risks of death from breast cancer compared to their white counterparts, across all types of the disease. This disparity isn’t just about biology,” co-author Paulette Chandler, associate epidemiologist in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a news release.
Authors found the contributing factors include socioeconomic inequality, delays in diagnosis and inadequate access to timely quality cancer treatment.
“To achieve equity, intervention is necessary at multiple levels — from community to healthcare systems and individual healthcare providers, to patients themselves learning about their disease and what their expectations should be for their care,” senior author Erica Warner, a cancer epidemiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in the release.