Man went missing in 2013 while driving for cigarettes. Now his car is found, cops say

A videographer helping investigate the disappearance of a Missouri man missing for 10 years helped make a “major break” in the case, authorities said.

The recent development is the first piece of evidence the Camden County Sheriff’s Office has released in the missing person’s case of Donald Erwin.

Erwin left his Camdenton home Dec. 29, 2013, and told his wife he was “going to the local store for cigarettes,” but nearly a decade later there still has been no sign of him, the sheriff’s office said.

He was driving a 2002 Hyandai Elantra when he went missing, and that vehicle has now been located, authorities said in a Dec. 17 news release.

The sheriff’s office said James Hinkle, a videographer and drone pilot working with Beyond the Case, contacted a property owner in southern Camden County about Erwin. Beyond the Case is a volunteer group that assists in missing persons cases in southwest Missouri.

“Mr. Hinkle said he thought he had located a vehicle submerged in a small pond on private property while flying his drone earlier in the week,” according to the sheriff.

The property owner and Hinkle searched the pond together Saturday, Dec. 16, and they found a car submerged in the water, authorities said.

After deputies and detectives were called to the scene, divers searched the pond and confirmed the license plate of the car matched Erwin’s Hyundai, according to the sheriff. The car was then pulled out of the water.

“Investigators are still actively working on the case, processing the vehicle for evidence, and searching the pond and surrounding area for any remains of Mr. Erwin,” the sheriff said.

It’s unclear if the pond had been searched in the last 10 years.

Within 48 hours of Erwin going missing in 2013, crews conducted searches on horseback, through air patrol and with sonar technology in a nearby lake, KY3 reported.

Yvonne Erwin-Bowen, his sister, told the station he vanished “without a trace.”

Camdenton is about 150 miles southeast of Kansas City.

This story was originally published December 18, 2023 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Man went missing in 2013 while driving for cigarettes. Now his car is found, cops say."