Florida authorities recover remains believed to be those of teenage girl who disappeared in 2004

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Florida authorities discovered what they believe to be the remains of a teenage girl who was last seen in 2004, the Volusia Sheriff's Office said.

A grant of immunity to a witness helped the Volusia Sheriff's Office find remains that were buried beneath a modular home and driveway on Wednesday in Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona Beach. Investigators recovered 99.9% of the remains believed to belong to Autumn Lane McClure from a grave, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood said  at a news conference Thursday.

The sheriff's office is awaiting confirmation from the medical examiner's office. The suspect in Autumn’s murder was identified as Brian Christopher Donley, 49, who died in 2022, according to Chitwood.

Autumn was 16-years-old and living in Ormond Beach when she disappeared May 10, 2004, investigators said. She was a Mainland High School student and was last seen when her boyfriend dropped her off at the Volusia Mall, according to a press release from the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office said investigators continued to investigate the case for nearly 20 years, "obtaining DNA from family members, re-interviewing friends and possible witnesses, and identifying a person of interest in 2021."

The investigation led to the burial site in Ormond Beach and on Wednesday, investigators discovered the human remains while excavating the site. Before reaching Autumn’s grave, detectives had to work with crews to move the modular home and tear through a concrete driveway.

Autumn Lane McClure's disappearance

Autumn's grandmother had called the sheriff's office to report her missing in 2004. The sheriff's office contacted Autumn's boyfriend who told investigators that he had dropped her off at the Volusia Mall and had not seen her since then.

Autumn's grandmother told detectives sometime afterward that Autumn called her from a different area code and that she had received some letters from Autumn postmarked from Melbourne, Chitwood said.

In 2004, detectives received information that Autumn was staying with Brian Donley and Jessica Freeman in a trailer in Ormond Beach. Donley and Freeman told detectives that Autumn didn’t get along with her grandmother and they had been letting her stay at the trailer for a couple of days but did not know anything else.

Chitwood said Autumn had never run away before. The case then went cold but detectives continued working the case, obtaining DNA from family members and entering her in a national database of missing children.

In 2016, detectives contacted Autumn's boyfriend again, who then admitted that he lied in 2004. He told detectives that he did not drop Autumn off at the mall but instead took her to the Seabreeze Bridge where she got in a car with Freeman.

Detectives tracked down Freeman, who was in Nevada, and she claimed to not to know anything about Autumn's disappearance.

But in 2021, detectives received a call from Chris Miller who is related through marriage and/or friendship to Donley and Freeman. Miller told detectives that a missing teenage girl was dead and buried in Volusia County, and that Donley and Freeman had something to do with it.

Detectives had Miller call Freeman who said she saw Donley kill Autum, Chitwood said.

“And then he told a myriad of stories that he chopped her up, he set her on fire, he buried her off Flomich Avenue, he just tells her a whole bunch of different things,” Chitwood said about Donley. 

Donley died May 26, 2022, almost 18 years to the day that detectives believe Autumn was killed, Chitwood said. Freeman had moved back to Florida and initially refused to talk to investigators until she was granted immunity, which detectives requested and obtained from the State Attorney’s Office.  

A break in the case

Freeman told detectives that she worked with Autumn, and she and Donley allowed her to stay with them at the trailer.

“They were involved in a sexual relationship with Autumn,” Chitwood said. “Now keep in mind Brian was 31 at the time. Autumn was 16.”

Freeman told detectives she saw Donley attack Autumn, Chitwood added. She claimed that she saw Donley strangle Autumn and that he threatened to hurt her if she said anything about Autumn's death.

According to Chitwood, Freeman said Donley visited the lot where he once lived in late 2021 or early 2022 and was relieved to see a new manufactured home and a driveway being built there. At the time, Freeman did not tell detectives the exact location.

But in late 2023, Freeman went ahead and told detectives Autumn was buried beneath the trailer. Detectives then obtained search warrants but had to work with the homeowner who had just put in a new modular home and driveway.