Remains of college student, 21, who vanished six years ago while driving home for Christmas finally found FIVE miles from his crashed car
The remains of a Texas college student have been found nearly six years after he disappeared while driving home for Christmas break.
A local resident discovered the human remains on September 8 east of Salt Flat Road in Caldwell County and a DNA test has conclusively identified the remains as those of Jason Landry, 21, the Texas Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit announced Wednesday.
Landry was due to make a 165-mile journey from Texas State University to his hometown of Missouri City, outside Houston, early on December 13, 2020 when he disappeared.
His vehicle was spotted at 12.30am on a secluded road near the city of Luling, about 30 minutes from the university’s campus.
Authorities then determined the vehicle had been involved in a one-vehicle crash, as temperatures plummeted to around 36 degrees Fahrenheit, or two degrees Celsius.
‘The car got off the road and spun around, and the back driver-side trunk, bumper and the side of the car took most of the impact,’ Sergeant Deon Cockrell, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the time.
Landry’s wallet and cellphone were found in the car and in the surrounding area, along with a small amount of blood, but there was no sign of the student.
Dogs traced his scent from the car to a nearby pond, but when the pond was drained, there was no trace of the 21-year-old.
Texas officials confirmed this week that remains found in rural Caldwell County are those of Jason Landry, 21, who disappeared while on his way home from college for Christmas break
His car was found wrecked along a rural road in Luling in the early hours of December 14, 2020
His whereabouts remained unclear for nearly six years as his parents agonized over what may have happened to him.
In the meantime, the Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit said it ‘conducted repeated ground and aerial searches, reviewed new leads and continually re-examined the case’ in collaboration with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Search and Rescue.
Civilian volunteers also ‘devoted substantial time, effort and personal resources to the search for Jason,’ the unit noted.
Authorities ultimately determined Landry packed his Nissan Altima for the trip home, taking a backpack containing his laptop, gaming equipment, a Ziploc bag of toiletries, a small amount of marijuana and his pet fish Sparky inside a tumbler he used as a makeshift pet carrier, and entered the directions into the Waze app on his phone.
Around 30 minutes into the journey – at 11.24pm – Jason’s car entered the oil and ranching community of Luling, data shows.
Suddenly, Jason stopped using Waze and – rather than taking a right turn along the route home – he continued straight onto Salt Flat Road.
It was just 67 minutes later that the Altima was found crashed into a tree, with the keys still in the ignition and Landry’s phone left inside the vehicle.
A few feet away, Jason’s clothes, underwear, shoes and wristwatch, had been neatly placed on the gravel ground as though he had carefully stripped naked by the side of the road and disappeared into the frigid night.
Landry’s parents have suggested a malfunctioning traffic app caused a rerouting of his navigational system, leading him to veer far off track
The family had been left without answers for nearly six years
Family members have since suggested a malfunctioning traffic app caused a rerouting of his navigational system, leading him to veer far off track.
‘I don’t know why my son was down this road my best guess, he will follow Waze wherever it sends him, he was coming home from college, but he was here on this road I don’t know if he was trying to avoid a deer or what, swerved and hit some trees on the side,’ Landry’s father, Kent, said.
His car left the gravel road and ended up in a ditch alongside a fence. Some of his clothes were also found outside of the vehicle.
‘We know he got out of the crash OK, and was walking back, this way, and that’s the last we know for sure,’ said Kent, a pastor, to Fox 7.
His remains were ultimately found just about five miles south of the crash site.
Yet questions still remain, as the skeletal remains do not provide any additional insight into the cause or manner of death – though investigators have said they found no indication of foul play.
Bodycam shows law enforcement finding Jason Landry’s backpack on the road in the early hours of December 14, 2020
Still, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton touted the discovery of Landry’s body as ‘a critical moment in a case that has weighed heavily on our hearts for nearly six years.
‘The Landry family has suffered an unimaginable tragedy and they will remain in our prayers, especially during this incredibly difficult time,’ said Paxton, who is in the midst of a close Senate race.
Meanwhile, in a statement posted to the ‘Missing Person – Jason Landry’ Facebook account, his family said they received the news of his untimely demise on Wednesday.
‘While we grieve his passing, we are so thankful to all of you who have prayed for our family during these difficult years of waiting. We are also so grateful for the members of law enforcement, volunteer search team members and the many individuals that have lifted up our family and the memory of Jason,’ the family said.
‘But most of all, we are so blessed to know that Jason is home with the Lord. We can’t wait to see him again in heaven,’ they continued, concluding with a Bible verse: ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).’
