The Casper Police Department says new information may help finally solve the mystery of what happened to a 13-year-old developmentally disabled teen who disappeared from a Casper group home more than two decades ago.
Justin Phillip Harris was reported missing by staff after he failed to show up for breakfast at the now-closed R.L. Mills Home for Boys in north Casper on Feb. 15, 2004.
A massive search ensued to find the teen who was initially believed to have run away, though police now believe that if he did flee on his own someone would have had to help him.
Over the years, an unknown number of people have been questioned or polygraphed in relation to Harris’ disappearance, and police are not ruling out foul play, according to Rebekah Ladd, public information officer for the Casper Police Department.
Investigators are being tight-lipped about the renewed effort to revisit Harris’ disappearance, saying only that information previously derived from follow-up suspect interviews in 2011 provided new clues as to what might have happened to the teen.
“Since Justin’s disappearance, technology and forensic capabilities have significantly advanced, particularly in areas related to criminal investigations,” Ladd said in an email. “These advancements continue to support our ongoing work in 2025 and have allowed us to reassess previous information with improved tools and resources.”
Ladd additionally said there have been multiple persons of interest over the years, but declined to provide specifics, citing an open case.
Ladd “strongly urged” anyone with information, whether new or old, to come forward and share with police.
Harris’ family was encouraged by these revived efforts to find him, saying they have not given up hope for him or stopped looking for him after all these years.
Harris’ younger sister, Terri Harris, was audibly emotional Thursday as she described her love for her brother and the many ways his disappearance gutted their family.
“The devastation was so consuming,” she said. “There are no words to describe the damage it did. The hole it left in its wake...Nothing can prepare you for that.”
He is greatly missed, she said, noting that the family just wants answers.
Doting Older Brother
Terri, who was seven when her brother disappeared, described visiting her older brother at the boy’s home shortly before he vanished. She couldn’t remember how long he had lived there but thought that it was a year or two.
Their last visit was a few weeks before he disappeared, and she remembered how he delighted in showing them that his feet could finally touch the floor from his perch on the couch.
He was small for his age at just 5 feet tall and about 110 pounds and was described as being intellectually delayed.
Mostly, she remembers his smile as his feet tapped the floor with pride that day at his latest accomplishment.
“He always had a smile on his face no matter what he was going through,” she said. “He was always sweet and gentle and caring.”
So caring, in fact, that he would sit for hours and play the board game Battleship with her and would also visit her at her nearby elementary school for lunch. The siblings were exceptionally close, she said, and even looked alike with blonde hair, green eyes, and glasses.
By all accounts, he was a doting brother to her and her siblings.
“He would always tell me he was there for me and that he loved me,” she said, holding back tears.
Today, as she nears her 30th birthday, she said the anniversary of her brother’s disappearance still hits her hard.
Massive Search
It was 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning when staff first realized that Harris was gone. When he failed to come to breakfast, staff checked his bed, which was stuffed with clothes as if he were in bed sleeping.
He was believed to be wearing a gray jacket and black snow boots when he disappeared on that frigid winter night without his antidepressant medication.
A multiple-agency search ensued following the teen’s disappearance with dozens of searchers on foot and by air scouring the north Casper area the following Monday, including searches of empty homes, sheds, campers and along the North Platte River, but no sign of the boy was found, according to a Feb. 17, 2004 article by the Casper-Star Tribune.
His father, Phillip Harris, who was described in media accounts as a truck driver living in Swink, Oklahoma, told reporters that he believed his son ran away to be with him. In the past, this is something his son had threatened to do, his father said.
Dick Dresang, then-director of the Youth Crisis Center that ran the boys’ home, said that Harris had been doing well at both school and the home and was perplexed as to why he might run away.
“If I were to guess, he had an outside source to go to,” he told the Casper-Star Tribune.
At the time, his mother refused to comment.
Family Devastated
Behind closed doors, however, Terri said her mother was taking it hard.
Though young, Terri can still remember learning that her brother was missing. She remembers standing in the kitchen when she heard the phone ringing, then the phone drop, as her mother began crying hysterically and calling out for Terri’s stepfather.
“I remember her saying he was gone,” Terri said, “and after that just chaos.”
She described long and sleepless nights with the family on edge, waiting for news of what might have happened to him.
Meanwhile, she remembers her mother’s tears and her not being able to get out of bed.
“She was depressed for a long time because that was her son,” Terri said.
After the official search ended, her stepfather and his friends continued the search for the teen. She recalled hearing something about her brother’s glasses potentially being found by the river but has no idea if that tip ever panned out.
Much of what happened following her brother’s disappearance is foggy, she said, given her age and the traumatic aftermath of losing her brother.
Tips dry up
At the time, police said they believed that Harris either ran away or was abducted, but today they say that if he ran away, he would have needed assistance.
In the weeks and months after he disappeared, the agency reported receiving multiple calls about potential sightings of Harris “on a weekly basis from people on both coasts and throughout the nation,” according to reporting by the Casper-Star Tribune.
None panned out, and by the end of December 2004, authorities reported no further developments.
Boys’ Home Also Now Gone
The R.L. Mills Home, formerly located on E. H. Street, was shuttered in January 2011.
It had been gifted by the city to the Youth Crisis Center and housed boys ages 12 to 17 who were court-ordered to live there because of family violence, chronic truancy, or other offenses, according to a 2011 Casper-Star Tribune article.
The home was closed due to declining use and the cost to keep the facility functioning, according to Dick Dresang, former executive director of the center, who told the news outlet that the state was struggling to maintain group homes amid a nationwide trend toward home-based care.
“The kids aren’t there and we have been more or less subsidizing it and we can’t subsidize it anymore,” Dresang said in the article.
Instead, the remaining male occupants were moved to the 10-bed companion girls’ Hemry Home, which was turned co-ed.
It’s not clear if other children went missing from the home or if any of the employees were considered suspects as police aren’t sharing that information.
During its tenure, however, at least two employees were charged with crimes while on duty, including one caregiver who was charged with seven counts of child endangerment in 2007 for allegedly driving the boys while intoxicated.
According to media reports at the time, the employee drove the boys to the hospital in her personal vehicle after two boys cut themselves on glass from a broken window.
A second employee, a night manager, was arrested in 2008 for supplying marijuana to some of the teenage residents. For that offense, the employee was sentenced to 7 to 10 years.
“Soft-Hearted Kid”
Harris’ cousin, Amanda “Mandi” Harris, was also happy to hear that police are again refocusing efforts on finding Harris.
She was the same age as Harris and also living in Casper, though her family moved to South Dakota shortly after her cousin vanished.
She was devastated when he went missing. The two had been very close, she said, along with Terri.
She, too, described him as a “soft-hearted kid” who was quiet and very kind, she said. The two spent a lot of time together as kids, riding bikes and playing games. He was creative, she said, and had a big heart for his family.
One memory in particular of Harris sitting at a table doing beadwork with his mother sticks in her mind. That was indicative of her cousin, she said, in that he preferred spending time and doing activities with his family.
She, too, holds out hope that one day they’ll have answers.
Over the years, she knows of only one potential sighting of Harris. This came when she had returned to Casper for a brief period in 2012 and met a girl who claimed to have “partied” with a man who introduced himself as Justin Harris and fit his description and who she described as “courteous.”
Age-wise, this would have made Harris 21 or 22, so the timing would have been right for meeting him at a party.
To her knowledge, the tip was investigated but ruled out.
Like Terri, however, she’s not giving up on the hope that he may be alive. Today, he would now be 34 years old.
She, too, wonders what new evidence police have unearthed that may move his case forward and hopes to finally get answers.
“We miss him so much,” she said. “He’s very loved by his family.”
Never Too Late
Another person who has not forgotten about Harris or given up hope of finding him is John Bischoff, vice president of the Missing Children Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Members of NCMEC were in Casper following Harris’ disappearance to assist police with his case.
The nonprofit offers a host of free services to both law enforcement and families of missing and exploited children, including poster sharing, age-progressed photos, investigative, analytical and forensic services for law enforcement, as well as other support services for families.
Families can contact NCMEC for services after their child’s case has been reported to law enforcement.
The nonprofit was formed in 1984 by John Walsh, whose son Adam was abducted from a department store in 1981, and since then has assisted with over half a million missing child cases in the U.S., according to Bischoff.
NCMEC has been tracking Harris’ case for the past 21 years and continues to update and share his age-progressed photo, which Bischoff encourages others to print and hang in their storefronts in Casper and share electronically.
Bischoff said he appreciates the Casper Police Department’s renewed push for Harris’s case.
“Sometimes these cases, especially the long-term cases, don’t get the attention they deserve for a variety of different reasons,” he told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview. “Law enforcement is as resource strapped as everyone else is, but for them to put renewed focus on his case was just wonderful to see.”
Key Pieces Of Information
The public can be of great assistance in helping to solve these missing person cases, he noted, and encouraged people to do their part to help bring Harris home.
“Let’s face it, unless you’re directly tied to a missing child case or the law enforcement agency, the family, or us here at NCMEC, as time goes on, you may forget that child went missing in your area, and that’s heartbreaking on many levels,” he said.
He encouraged people to stop for a second, look at Harris’ poster and try to think back to 2004 to see if they can remember anything.
“Because you may have a key piece of information that at the time you thought was nothing,” he said.
He suggests reporting anything – even if it seems inconsequential – to law enforcement or to call the NCMEC 24-hour, 7-days-a-week hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST. Bischoff said they turn over all tips to police.
“It may be nothing, but then again and more importantly, it may be absolutely the thing they needed to break open this case,” he said.
The Casper Police, likewise, are asking for the public’s help in locating Harris.
“We strongly urge anyone with information, whether previously shared or not, to come forward. Even small details may assist in moving this investigation forward,” Ladd said. “Casper is a close community, we believe there are people who have information that could greatly help this case.”
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Casper Police Department at 307-235-8278 or Detective Aaron Trujillo at atrujillo@casperwy.gov.
Tips may also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Central Wyoming at 307-577-8477 or at crimestopperscasper.org.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
