Local
Missouri family's DNA could finally name hitchhiker killed on I-40 near Clinton in 1972
A Missouri family has submitted DNA to help identify a hitchhiker struck and killed near Clinton, Oklahoma, in 1972, believing he may be their relative who vanished around 1971. State investigators have exhumed the man's body and say results could take eight to nine months.
CLINTON, Okla. â More than five decades after a young hitchhiker was struck and killed along Interstate 40 near Clinton, a Missouri family is hoping DNA testing will finally put a name to the man they believe is their long-missing relative.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the family came forward after learning that items found on the victim suggested he may have ties to Missouri. The family told investigators a loved one had left home in Missouri around 1971 and was never heard from again.
"There were a few things found on the body that indicated he may have been from Missouri," OHP spokesperson Sarah Stewart said. "They had a loved one that had left home in Missouri, they believe, around 1971, and had never been heard from again."
The man was killed on June 26, 1972, near the interchange of Interstate 40 and State Highway 183. Witnesses told authorities the man ran out of a ditch and motioned for a ride before he was hit by a vehicle.
Investigators at the time speculated the man might have recently been released from jail, but Stewart said local lockups were checked and no matches were found. Despite an investigation, the man was never identified.
"In that area, jails were checked; nothing matched," Stewart said. "And obviously an investigation was done at the time, but he was never able to be identified."
No arrests were made, and OHP determined there was no reason to charge the driver. "They did locate the vehicle that hit him, but it was determined they were not at any kind of fault, because he ran out sort of in front of them," Stewart said.
The man had been buried in Oklahoma City. Investigators recently exhumed his body in hopes of recovering a viable DNA sample to compare with the family's submission.
"We were able to exhume the body of the identified male, and hopefully we can get a viable DNA sample to see if it matches the sample this family provided," Stewart said.
OHP officials cautioned that the testing process is slow, with results potentially eight to nine months away. For the family, and for a case that has lingered unresolved for more than half a century, the wait represents a rare chance at closure.
The case underscores how advances in forensic genealogy are giving new life to cold cases that once seemed impossible to solve, allowing families to reconnect with missing loved ones and communities to reckon with deaths that went unnamed for generations.