Authorities in Nebraska have determined that Chance Englebert’s death was likely an accident caused by falling from a great height.
But the official confirmation of Englebert’s death and probable cause is raising more questions than answers for his family and others who feel there’s more to his death than an accidental fall.
Multiple forensic analysts from Nebraska and elsewhere have determined that Englebert died from “a pattern of blunt force trauma most consistent with a rapid deceleration event including, but not limited to, a fall from height” as the result of an accident, according to a joint statement from the Gering Police Department and Scotts Bluff County Attorney released Wednesday.
The Moorcroft, Wyoming, man was missing for more than six years before his remains were found in mid-October by a pair of hikers on a rugged cliff on the north side of the Scotts Bluff National Monument.
The remains were discovered beneath a precipice and were thought to be Englebert based on items found with the remains.
Investigators determined that the range of Englebert’s fall measured anywhere from 130 feet at the shortest point up to 290 feet where his torso was discovered, according to Wednesday’s joint statement.
The peak of the North Bluff is 800 feet above the North Platte River near Gering, Nebraska, and runs parallel to the sandstone formation, according to the Scotts Bluff National Monument website.
Along with the forensic analysis, the Scotts Bluff County Attorney and police have determined that after a thorough investigation of phone records, social media accounts, tips, witness interviews, polygraph examinations and other investigative tools with local police and other state and federal agencies, there’s no indication of foul play.
“After a full investigation, there is no evidence that the death of Chance Englebert was anything other than accidental,” says the statement.
A follow-up question to Scotts Bluff County Attorney Dave Eubanks asking whether this officially closes Englebert’s case was not returned by publication time.
Missing Six Years
Prior to this discovery, Englebert had been missing since 2019 when he disappeared during a visit to see his wife Baylee’s family in Gering over the Fourth of July weekend, along with their infant son.
Then 25, Englebert got in an argument with his in-laws while golfing and told his wife he wanted to leave.
When she balked, he walked off from his in-laws, telling his best friend Matt Miller and family that he planned to walk the 35 miles to Torrington, following the North Platte River.
He was last spotted on surveillance video walking alone in neighboring Terrytown, about 1.5 miles north of Gering and halfway between Gering and Scottsbluff.
In the video, he appears to look down at his phone before taking a 90-degree turn to the left, as if following a map.
His last communication was a text message to a family member at 9:08 p.m., just as a torrential storm swept through the area.
The jumble of letters and the smiley face emoji in his text message made no sense to any of them.
There was no trace of Englebert until Oct. 10, despite a massive search of the Gering-Scottsbluff area and along the North Platte River by more than 17 agencies with drones, divers, cadaver dogs and hundreds of volunteers on foot, horseback, and ATVs.
More Questions Than Answers
Now that they finally have answers as to what happened to Englebert, his family and others are having a hard time believing his death was accidental.
Englebert’s mother, Dawn, told Cowboy State Daily that she spoke with new Gering Police Department Detective Matt Holcomb about her son’s case, who told her that his case is basically considered closed, though he’s still following up on a few things.
Dawn accepts the fact that her son’s death was likely from some type of fall, but said she’ll never believe Chance willingly picked that route as a shortcut by foot on his own.
She believes that someone may have driven or taken him there that night.
“This is never going to be closure for us,” she said, adding she does find consolation that he’s finally been found.
“He laid in Nebraska six years too long, but at least his spirit will always be in South Dakota (where he was raised),” she said.
Dawn is not the only one scratching their heads as to how Englebert might have ended up at the top of the monument that night.
One local woman questions how Englebert would have been able to reach that location given the time of night and the rainy, stormy conditions that caused power outages the night he disappeared.
Bridget Lehman, who goes by the TikTok handle “The Cadillac Cowgirl 308,” retraced the roughly 8-mile route from the Sinclair gas station to the trail leading to the top of the monument.
Lehman said she’s an avid hiker who hikes the route nearly every day in the summer.
It’s a difficult climb up a steep path that she thinks would have been impossible for Englebert to walk in the dark and in inclement weather, Lehman said.
“There’s absolutely no way,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
Even if he had made it to the top, the sandstone ridge of the cliff where he would have had to stand to jump or fall is crumbly sandstone.
Nor does she think Englebert was of the mind to leap off the edge to end his life given that he was adamantly calling friends and family for a ride, determinedly stating that he wanted to get back to Wyoming as quickly as he could.
“I don’t believe any of it,” Lehman said, adding that she suspects foul play, and like Dawn, that someone had a hand in his demise.
No More ‘Evil Drama’
Despite her doubts about how her son died, Dawn asks the public and all the family’s supporters to leave Baylee and her family alone as both families continue processing the news that Chance Englebert has finally been found.
Animosity against both families in the wake of rumors and speculation about what might have happened only adds to their shared grief, Dawn said.
“I’d like to ask for people to please leave Baylee and her family alone,” Dawn said in a message.
“Although I do hope people continue to talk about Chance, and hopefully something comes of that talk, but our families need to be left alone from the evil drama,” she said.
Dawn also said that she and her family have appreciated the love and the support from the army of people who have supported them since he first disappeared.
Efforts to reach Baylee for comment were not successful.
Contact Jen Kocher at jen@cowboystatedaily.com
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
