The Washakie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating human remains discovered by a Wyoming Game and Fish warden Sunday.
The unnamed warden had been tracking a deer collar in a remote area of the county when he came across the remains, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
Washakie County Sheriff Austin Brookwell did not provide any further details.
“I have no other information to give until the remains are identified and the family has been notified,” Brookwell wrote in an email Monday morning.
Likewise, Washakie County Coroner Jeff Lapp could provide little information other than to confirm the remains were skeletal.
Lapp said it’s unclear at this time if the bones belong to a male or female and that he will be meeting with a dentist later this afternoon to compare dental impressions to records for an unknown person or people he declined to identify.
Along with the sheriff’s office, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger, and Washakie County Search and Rescue members also assisted in the recovery of the remains.
Missing people in the area
Currently, Breanna Mitchell is the only person reported missing in Washakie County, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation database and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).
Mitchell disappeared in late July 2023. The then-28-year-old Worland woman’s car was found abandoned and stuck on a rugged, two-track trail near Nowater Trail area near Worland.
Despite multiple searches by Washakie and neighboring sheriff’s offices, search and rescue groups – including helicopters and bloodhound dogs – Mitchell has not yet been found.
A boot and shirt believed to belong to her were located near the vehicle along with barefoot footprints.
Kyle Ellis, of Sheridan, was also last seen in the area, though he’s reported missing out of Sheridan County, where he had been living with his father at the time of his disappearance.
Ellis was last seen by an eyewitness who claimed to have dropped him off at a gas station in Greybull, roughly 38 miles from Worland, according to his mother, Heather Vanderhoef.
There was no surveillance footage available to confirm that he had been dropped there, and he had no cell phone or debit card on his person to help track him down.
To date, both Mitchell and Ellis are still missing.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
