AURORA, Ind. — Human remains found in a vehicle that was recovered from the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana have been identified as belonging to a woman who disappeared nearly two decades ago.
On Jan. 7, Dearborn County Coroner Cameron McCreary received confirmation that the human remains recovered from a vehicle found in October 2021 belong to Stephanie Van Nguyen, Indiana State Police said Tuesday morning.
Nguyen, 26, disappeared in April 2002 along with her two children, 4-year-old Kristina and 3-year-old John. Van Nguyen was last known to be driving her 1997 Nissan Pathfinder.
Information gathered at the time indicated that Van Nguyen left a note that she was going to drive into the Ohio River, ISP said.
Her vehicle was not located at the time, but a renewed search nearly twenty years later led to it's discovery in the Ohio River in Aurora, Indiana, in October 2021.
Authorities did know Van Nguyen had been stopped by local police near that area along the Indiana and Ohio border prior to her death. Jeff Braun is an assistant police chief with the Delhi Police Department in Ohio, the agency which first investigated the case, and said that tip was one of few they had to go on.
"You don't just vanish from the face of the Earth without leaving some kind of trail. But it's essentially finding a needle in a haystack," Braun said. "We've obviously got several tips throughout the years, but none of them panned out."
The Delhi police collaborated with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana Conservation Officer's Dive Team, Hamilton County Police Association Dive Team to search the river.
Travis Stewart is an Indiana Conservation Officer, and said the team utilized advanced sonar technology to scan the Ohio River looking for the shape of a vehicle.
"It can be used for full-vehicle recoveries. Whether it be vehicles go into the river. Article recoveries - say a boat sinks. And then, we do have situations of recoveries of individuals from a water related incident. In most situations we're using that technology in bodies of water to look for them," Stuart said.
The type of technology used to eventually find the 1997 Nissan Pathfinder could only lead investigators so far, though. The divers had to go down and confirm the shape coming in on sonar was a vehicle.
"The water that they're in is black water. In some situations, you can see right it front of you. But it's very limited visibility. So, in this case they went down, and were able to feel around, get close enough to somewhat say hey this is a vehicle," he said.
The Pathfinder was pulled from the water, and Braun made a call to Van Nguyen's family. At that point, no bodies had been found near the car.
For the Van Nguyen family and investigators, there was still some semblance of hope they alive.
"Just because you find the car it doesn't necessarily mean anything, right? The car could be in the river, but nothing else could be. People drive cars in the river all the time. That doesn't necessarily mean they were in it," Braun said.
But when the car was removed from the river weeks later, anthropologists from the University of Indianapolis recovered a bone.
Testing completed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations Laboratory confirmed that the bone belonged to Van Nguyen, ISP said.
"I am happy we were able to finally give Ms. Van Nguyen's family some closure in this almost two decade long search for their loved one," McCreary said in a statement.
McCreary noted that Van Nguyen's children will still be listed as missing persons, as no other remains were located in the car.
There are plans for another dive to take place at the site in search of any other possible remains once the weather improves, the coroner said.
Aurora is roughly 95 miles southeast of downtown Indianapolis.
