Bone found in vehicle lost for 20 years in Ohio River

A bone has been found in the SUV pulled from the Ohio River last week that belonged to an Ohio woman, missing for nearly 20 years.

According to state police reports, a search of the river using side sonar scan technology last week near Aurora, Indiana led divers to locate a vehicle at a depth of over 50 feet and about 300 feet from the bank of the river.

The registration plate matched a vehicle that was involved in a 2002 missing persons case out of Delphi Township in Ohio. 26-year-old Stephanie Van Nguyen and her two children, 4-year-old Kristina, and 3-year-old John have been missing since April 2002.

On Monday, anthropologists with the University of Indianapolis and Indiana State Police investigators examined the vehicle and discovered what they believe to be a human bone. The bone is being sent to a lab for testing in an attempt to determine the origin.

Information found during the initial investigation indicated that Nguyen planned to drive her 1997 Nissan Pathfinder into the river.

Last week, dive teams from the Hamilton County Police Association and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources with the assistance of Schaffer’s Towing worked to bring the vehicle to the surface.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police