Gary Wayne Dover, who was reported missing to the Denton Police Department in 1981, has been positively identified as the individual whose remains were discovered at Hickory Creek Park near Lewisville Lake in 1990. The identification, achieved through a DNA match, resolved a connection between two separate cold cases that had remained unsolved for over four decades.
Dover’s remains were interred at the Oaklawn Cemetery of Mabank in June 2026, where he was laid to rest next to his mother, brother, and father.
The discovery links Dover’s 1981 disappearance to the 1990 unearthing of a gravesite approximately 10 miles south of where he likely vanished. While the identification answers the question of who the remains belonged to, investigators have not yet determined how Dover came to be buried by the lake or who was responsible.
Detective Jim Zehetner of the Hickory Creek Police Department, who took on the case last fall, stated that detectives were previously unaware of any link between the two incidents. Zehetner noted that the department had only known of the remains found in Hickory Creek and had been following up with the medical examiner’s office until September of last year.
Dover’s mother, Vonnie Trull Dover, died without knowing what happened to her son. Relatives indicated that her persistent hope for answers contributed to the eventual identification. Zehetner emphasized the commitment of law enforcement to continue working these cases, noting that Dover’s name remains at the top of the board at the Denton Police Department.
He stated that while the cases may not be worked daily, the responsibility to find an ending to Dover’s life story remains a priority.
