Nearly a year after a University of Wyoming arts instructor disappeared on a mountain bike ride, there are still no clues as to what might have happened to him.
Nash Quinn, now 40, is believed to have left his home sometime between July 8 - 21, 2024, never to return. His keys, wallet, and cellphone were left in his Laramie apartment, which is not unusual for the avid cyclist when he was on a ride, friends say.
Despite massive searches encompassing more than 70,000 acres of area by law enforcement, search and rescue, Black Hawk helicopters, drones, cadaver dogs, volunteers and Quinn’s family and friends, no trace of him has been found.
All that’s missing from Quinn’s apartment is his white Ridley steel frame bike with brown leather seat and 29-inch wheels as well as his bike helmet.
Though there are no new updates in Quinn’s case, the Laramie Police Department is still actively investigating and urges residents to look for any clues – particularly the white bicycle – or any signs of Quinn in the Pilot Hill, Roger’s Canyon and Happy Jack recreational areas where he was known to ride, according to a recent post on the department’s Facebook page.
“We’re all about people sharing that post and getting people’s minds on it again,” said Lt. Taun Smith with the Laramie Police Department, “but we have no new information we can share.”
As for whether or not the police believe that Quinn may still be alive, Smith said that statute law does not allow authorities to comment on the presumption of life or death in missing person cases until they’ve been missing for seven years or longer when they legally can be presumed dead.
Smith also could not comment on whether there has been any activity on any of Quinn’s bank accounts or credit cards or any other information pertaining to the case.
“All missing person cases are actively investigated until the person is found,” Smith told Cowboy State Daily. “While this is an open, on-going investigation, we cannot make a comment on any investigatory details.”
Pinning Down The Timeline
It’s not clear what day Quinn actually left on his bike ride, but authorities have pinned it down to a two-week timeline based on his communications with his boss at the University of Wyoming, Doug Russell, the head of the visual arts department.
Quinn graduated from the university with a bachelor of fine arts degree and had been hired as a full-time metalsmithing instructor in 2023. In between, he earned a master of fine arts degree at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and taught and exhibited his metalwork nationwide.
Russell taught Quinn as an undergrad, including taking him and other students on a summer study-abroad class in Turkey.
Russell described Quinn as “an incredible artist and instructor,” who is also “serious, focused and dedicated with a very dry, humorous, satirical side.” He was also incredibly well-liked by his students.
In his bio, Quinn refers to himself as a metalsmith specializing in pattern-formed enameled vessels and small-scale spring-based mechanisms, including a ring with two miniature functional bow and arrows that shoot tiny darts.
His last correspondence with Quinn was on July 8, when Russell texted Quinn to let him know he had a package. Quinn responded about 5:30 that night, Russell said, to acknowledge he received the message.
Russell didn’t think anything about it until roughly two weeks later he received an email from the organizer of a workshop in Arizona where Quinn was due to teach who said she’d been unable to reach him to confirm his travel plans.
This was completely out of character for Quinn, Russell said, who was always professional and on time.
“He would never have not responded to an upcoming obligation like the workshop in Arizona,” Russell said.
Russell sent multiple texts, emails and tried to reach out to him over social media with no response. Again, such behavior was completely out of character.
Quinn’s last post on Facebook was May 28, 2024, where he posted a reel about his latest piece of artwork.
As he turns the intricate piece in his hand, text underneath states: “Finally put this thing together. It's my fourth cloisonne vessel, and I'm pretty stoked with how it turned out. I'm obviously not gonna put drugs in it because I'm a law-abiding citizen and I don't even know if a drug would fit in here, so what else should go in this thing?”
Most of his posts on his page are related to his various art projects.
When Russell failed to get a response from Quinn, he attempted to reach out to the Laramie Police Department to do a welfare check but realized the department had Quinn’s outdated address on file, so he contacted Quinn’s family, colleagues and friends to see if any of them had heard from them.
He’s not sure if it was Quinn’s family or best friend, Jon Cicarelli, who provided police with the correct address, but they arrived to find an empty apartment with his bike gone and his car parked outside.
At this point, Quinn was reported missing and multiple searches ensued.
Bad Timing
It wasn’t unusual for Quinn, who is not married and does not have children, to go off the radar from time to time, Cicarelli said, but only for short periods.
Unfortunately, at the time Quinn disappeared, Cicarelli said he was out of town at a work conference so hadn’t been checking in with his friend as he normally would.
The two are best friends and often rode bikes together.
Cicarelli met Quinn in 2008 on a group fishing trip to the Snowy Range as undergrad students. The two discovered they were both into mountain biking and started hanging out after the trip. Later, Quinn would be the best man at his wedding.
The Laramie Police Department took Quinn’s laptop and cell phone but weren’t able to get into the phone. With the permission of Quinn’s family, Cicarelli was able to access Quinn’s cloud data.
Cicarelli saw that Quinn had been searching for Google maps of Sheep Mountain, a game refuge and recreational area about 20 miles west of Laramie, right before he disappeared but declined to comment on what else he might have found only to say it was personal.
Talk of exploring Sheep Mountain tracked with earlier conversations Cicarelli had had with Quinn about exploring that terrain.
Cicarelli’s family has a cabin on the mountain, and Quinn had gone with him in the past to repair the chimney each spring that gets destroyed by the snow.
In retrospect, Cicarelli questioned whether the wilderness area was actually good for biking. The main trailhead starts at around 9,000 feet with several steep ascents and descents. It’s terrain better suited for hikers and horses than mountain bikes, Cicarelli said, though bikers do ride them.
“There are people who are crazy enough to take their bikes out there,” he said.
And Quinn would definitely have been one of those people who would be drawn to the challenge. He’s a top-notch rider, Cicarelli said, with skill and endurance. He’s also a guy who does his own thing, Cicarelli said, who may have gone off trail on the steeps.
Other areas that showed up in searches in Quinn’s cloud were the Thom Thorne/Beth Williams area north of Sybille Creek and Highway 34.
Still, Cicarelli said there were many more map searches for Sheep Mountain area, and he’s convinced that’s where Quinn went.
No Luck
After Cicarelli found the maps, he and Texas-based search and rescue professional, Paul Middendorf, organized a search on Sheep Mountain last October.
Middendorf told Cowboy State Daily that the volunteers, including five dog teams, scoured the terrain with no luck.
Both he and Cicarelli said it’s deceptively steep and much harder than it looks to traverse, with several searchers struggling not to slip and fall and requiring them to crawl on their hands and knees in some sections.
“Sheep Mountain looks innocent, but it’s real rough off the trail,” Middendorf said.
Cicarelli believes his friend is out there somewhere and said he plans on organizing more searches this summer.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office and Albany Search and Rescue has also scoured the Sheep Mountain area along with the other recreational areas – including Pilot Hill and Pole Mountain – where Quinn was known to bike.
Sheriff Aaron Appelhans said they thoroughly searched the Sheep Mountain area last fall, including using horses, drones, ATVs, cadaver dogs and searchers on foot.
They also got permission to scour adjacent private land, Appelhans said, and estimates they covered a 20-mile grid.
His office does not have any upcoming searches planned, he said, unless they receive new tips or information that warrants checking out.
Meanwhile, Cicarelli has no plans of giving up and said he’ll continue looking for Quinn until his family tells him otherwise,
Quinn’s family did not respond to requests for interview.
Others Also Missing
Quinn is one of four people missing in Albany County, dating back to 2019, according to Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s missing person database.
The others include brothers Byron and Christopher Pereira-Caal, who are thought to be in New York with family but are still considered missing, as well as David Furstenberg, now 29, who disappeared in September 2019. There are no details available about his disappearance, only that he may have had a gun or guns in his possession at the time he was last seen.
Including these four, there are currently 87 people listed missing in Wyoming, according to DCI’s database.
Anyone with information about Quinn or any of these missing people is asked to call the Laramie Police Department at 307-721-3563 or email SDalles@cityoflaramie.org.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
