Volunteer search and rescue team finds evidence linked to 2016 missing person investigation

LEAWOOD, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson got an exclusive interview with a volunteer dive team that discovered remains connected to a missing person investigation. Share your story idea with Alyssa.

—

A volunteer search and recovery team found new evidence 10 years after a 59-year-old man disappeared in Leawood.

Jay Flekier was reported missing in the summer of 2016. His family believed he may have been driving a black Cadillac at the time.

The case stood out to James Hinkle, founder of Echo Divers.

"We thought this would be a recovery based on the research we had done," Hinkle said.

Hinkle is a part-time firefighter for the Clinton Fire Department, diver for Lee's Summit Underwater Search and Recovery, and a volunteer drone operator for Osage Beach Search and Rescue.

Echo Divers is a self-funded team that searches for missing persons with dive suits, drones and sonar.

Credit: Echo Divers/Jordon Smith

"You could say maybe God put me in this place to help people — I'd like to think that," Hinkle said.

They researched Flekier's case and used Johnson County's Geographic Information System (GIS) to map the geography of the Leawood neighborhood where he lived.

Echo Divers noticed a "square-shaped anomaly" in a pond that had the same measurements of Flekier's Cadillac.

When they went to the pond, they found the vehicle. Unidentified remains were inside.

With their background, the pair knows how to avoid disturbing evidence.

Credit: Echo Divers

"I held up the license plate and I could see it was the license plate that matched Jay's car," Hinkle said. "I said, 'The good news is, I think we found him ... the bad news is, I think we found him.'"

Hinkle was 17 when a woman named Angela Hammond was abducted in broad daylight in Clinton, Missouri.

He said he started Echo Divers with the hope of finding her one day.

Jordon Smith, a full-time Clinton firefighter, said he's helped Echo Divers with 20 to 30 searches.

"This isn’t the same as the fire service. It's its own monster entirely, but it’s equally fulfilling, if not more," Smith said.

Flekier's case is the second discovery for Echo Divers and Smith's first. He described the feeling as bittersweet.
 
"On the flip side, there's someone in that car, and that's a tragedy in and of itself," he said.

The Leawood Police Department didn't accept an interview regarding the case. A spokesperson told KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson, "They (Echo Divers) were very helpful at the scene and we appreciate their efforts."

KSHB 41

"Even though a person may know their loved one is gone, you could see it in their eyes every single time, that piece of hope is still there. They can't let go of the fact that they may be alive somewhere," Hinkle said.

Jackson asked Smith: "If you were to look back 15 years from now, still doing this work, what would you hope you all have accomplished?"

"Find as many people as I possibly can," Smith said.

Flekier's family has requested privacy.

Police don't suspect any foul play in his disappearance.

The next step is identifying remains that were found in the vehicle. According to the Johnson County Medical Examiner's Office, that process could take at least a few weeks.

Procedure requires a certain sequence before remains can be altered to gather DNA.

The medical examiner's office said it may be using DNA for identification rather than dental records.

—