A Sweetwater County detective made an appearance on a true crime podcast this week to discuss a 2018 missing person case.
Detective Matt Wharton appeared on the “Just the Tip-Sters” podcast to discuss the case of Terry Meador, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Rock Springs who was reported missing in October 2018 after he went looking for a place to hunt.
“Someone like Terry, he’s retired, he’s got some extra time in his life,” Wharton said during the interview.
Meador’s pickup truck was found on stuck in a rut on an access road near Rock Springs several days after his disappearance.
Wharton told host Melissa Morgan that one of the challenges with Meador’s disappearance is that Sweetwater County covers 10,000 square miles, making it the eighth-largest county in the United States, and there are only two patrol deputies to cover the county.
Additionally, the area where he was scouting for a hunting spot had spotty (at best) cell phone service.
Meador suffered from some mental health issues, especially when he didn’t take his medication properly, but he wasn’t considered a problem in his community, Wharton said.
“He didn’t go out and cause a lot of issues and he had a lot of friends,” he said. “Terry was a great guy.”
Morgan described Meador as an Ernest Hemingway-type who seemed like a rugged, but kind, grandfather.
It was theorized that Meador lost his was way while out in the wilderness hunting and no one has been able to find his remains.
“There are not a lot of clues in this case,” Morgan said.
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Meador can call Wharton at 307-922-5345.
