Up to date Sept. 23, 2026, 11:18 p.m. ET
Human stays found earlier this month have been recognized as these of Jason Landry, a 21-year-old Texas State College scholar who disappeared in 2020 after his car was discovered crashed and deserted alongside a rural highway, officers introduced on Sept. 23.
The identification was confirmed via DNA testing carried out by the College of North Texas Middle for Human Identification, Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton’s workplace mentioned in a information launch. The skeletal stays had been discovered on Sept. 8 by a resident in Caldwell County, situated simply southeast of Austin, Texas.
The stays didn’t reveal further details about Landry’s trigger or method of demise, and investigators mentioned they discovered no proof of foul play, in response to the lawyer normal’s workplace.
Paxton’s workplace mentioned investigators with its Chilly Case Unit spent years conducting repeated floor and aerial searches, pursuing new leads and reviewing proof within the disappearance of Landry. Investigators labored with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Workplace, the Texas Division of Public Security, and Texas Search and Rescue (TEXSAR), together with citizen volunteers.
“This growth marks a vital second in a case that has weighed closely on our hearts for almost six years,” Paxton mentioned in an announcement. “The Landry household has suffered an unimaginable tragedy, and they’ll stay in our prayers, particularly throughout this extremely troublesome time.”
Jason Landry’s disappearance in 2020
Authorities beforehand mentioned Landry left his condominium in San Marcos, Texas, a metropolis between Austin and San Antonio, at 10:55 p.m. native time on Dec. 13, 2020, desiring to drive to his dad and mom’ dwelling in Missouri Metropolis, a Houston-area suburb, earlier than he disappeared.
Investigators later reconstructed a lot of his route utilizing cellphone and laptop knowledge, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in a information launch on Jan. 29, 2021. Landry drove south on Freeway 80 via Caldwell County, handed via the communities of Martindale, Fentress, Prairie Lea and Stairtown, and entered Luling shortly earlier than 11:25 p.m.
Landry stopped utilizing his navigation software when he reached the intersection of Austin Road and U.S. Freeway 183 in Luling and commenced utilizing Snapchat on his cellphone, in response to the sheriff’s workplace. Authorities mentioned his digital footprint successfully ended then.
His car was found deserted within the 2300 block of Salt Flat Highway shortly after midnight on Dec. 14, 2020, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned on the time.
Landry’s stays had been discovered almost six years later in an space east of Salt Flat Highway, between Soda Springs and Biggs Highway, in response to the lawyer normal’s workplace. The sheriff’s workplace famous that the world the place the stays had been found was situated “simply outdoors the search grids.”
A number of private belongings discovered close to crash scene
The crash gave the impression to be a single-vehicle collision on a gravel highway, in response to the sheriff’s workplace. Investigators beforehand mentioned proof indicated the car possible left the roadway from overcorrecting and struck timber and a barbed-wire fence.
The car was discovered with its lights on, keys within the ignition, and the entrance passenger-side door locked, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. Investigators additionally discovered no proof of blood contained in the car.
“There isn’t a proof that every other car or outdoors pressure was concerned within the collision,” in response to the 2021 information launch. “The entire proof collected leads investigators to be assured that the contact with the timber and fence line was the one contact the car sustained.”
Authorities later found clothes, a backpack, a pockets, a laptop computer laptop, gaming gear, toiletries, and a glass containing Landry’s lifeless betta fish close to the roadway. A small blood smear was discovered on the clothes, although investigators mentioned it was not indicative of great harm and will have resulted from contact with a fence or vegetation.
The clothes discovered alongside the roadway was believed to have been what Landry was sporting earlier than the crash, and investigators discovered no indication it had been “eliminated underneath duress or menace,” in response to the sheriff’s workplace. Temperatures within the space that night time had been chilly, starting from a low of about 36 levels to a excessive of 43 levels.
Hundreds of acres lined in seek for Jason Landry
In January 2021, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned TEXSAR had searched greater than 3,900 acres on foot, horseback and with canines, in addition to greater than 16,900 acres by air utilizing drones, helicopters and fixed-wing plane.
“The household and pals of Jason haven’t seen or heard from him since earlier than the accident on Dec. thirteenth and his whereabouts are presently unknown,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in an announcement on Jan. 8, 2021.
Investigators additionally reviewed lots of of hours of surveillance video from Luling and surrounding areas, and examined Landry’s digital and social media knowledge, in response to the sheriff’s workplace.
On the time, investigators mentioned there was no proof Landry meant to fulfill anybody within the Luling space and no indication that one other particular person was concerned in his disappearance. Authorities beforehand described the case as an remoted occasion and mentioned there was no identified menace to the general public.
