Human Remains Identified

DEARBORN COUNTY - (January 10, 2022) - *UPDATE* Human Remains Recovered from Vehicle Submerged for Nearly Two Decades Positively Identified

On Friday, January 7, 2022, Dearborn County Coroner Cameron McCreary received confirmation that the human remains recovered from a vehicle submerged in the Ohio River for nearly two decades belong to Stephanie Van Nguyen.

Nguyen and her two children disappeared in April 2002 in her 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. Newer technology and a renewed search led to the discovery of Nguyen's vehicle in the Ohio River near Lesko Park in Aurora, Indiana in October 2021. After the vehicle was removed from the river, anthropologists from the University of Indianapolis assisted investigators in searching the vehicle for human remains. One bone, believed to be a human bone, was recovered from the vehicle and sent to a laboratory for further investigation.

The testing, which was completed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations Laboratory, confirmed that the bone belonged to Stephanie Van Nguyen.

The investigation is being conducted by Detectives with the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post and Delhi, Ohio Police Department with the assistance of numerous other agencies.

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