CASE CLOSED

Bone Pulled From SUV Submerged in Ohio River Solves 20-Year-Old Mystery

Stephanie Van Nguyen and her two children disappeared in 2002. Her car was pulled out of a river by divers in October last year.

A bone discovered in a car pulled out of the Ohio River last year has been positively identified as belonging to a woman who vanished with her two children nearly two decades ago, authorities said Tuesday. Dearborn County Coroner Cameron McCreary said she learned late last week that DNA testing had confirmed the bone, part of a human fibula, belonged to Stephanie Van Nguyen. The 26-year-old Van Nguyen disappeared in April 2002, leaving behind what police called a possible suicide note, outlining a plan to drive her car into the river with her 4-year-old daughter, Kristina, and 3-year-old son, John. In October last year, divers pulled a green Nissan Pathfinder resembling Nguyen’s out of the river in southeastern Indiana. According to McCreary, since no other human remains were found in the vehicle, Nguyen’s children will remain listed as missing for now. “I am happy we were able to finally give Ms. Nguyen’s family some closure in this almost two-decade-long search for their loved one,” he said in a statement.