Salt Lake City investigators have discovered fresh evidence in the disappearance of a former Jackson woman who vanished more than six years ago that clarifies the timeline of when she went missing and where she was last seen.
Anne Elyse Elliott, then 31, disappeared in Salt Lake City on Jan. 10, 2020.
It was originally reported to family that Elliott had been contacted by police in April of that year, but the Salt Lake City Police Department has since clarified that sighting never happened.
The tightened timeline and new information have reinvigorated the investigation as both authorities and Elliott’s family are calling on the public for assistance as they pursue new leads in what’s become a long-cold case.
Elliott, who also goes by her married name of Lancaster, was last seen leaving the Salt Lake City Detention Center on Jan. 10 where she had been incarcerated for six months.
For years, there had been no confirmed sightings of her after she left — until now.
Authorities now say that Elliott was seen later that January day in the area of North Temple Street, which is about 33 blocks north of the jail, according to Sgt. Greg Wilking with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Wilking declined to provide a time or exact location where Elliott was spotted, nor would he comment on whether police have identified a person or persons of interest in her disappearance.
He also declined to say whether foul play is suspected, although he did say police “are worried about the situation.”
“We want to find her and have some resolution,” he said.
He also said that the public can play a big part in helping detectives find Elliott, imploring people with information to come forward with any potential sightings of her that day or thereafter.
“The detective is very much actively working the case, and he’s got some feelers out there and is going to continue to try to talk to people to get information,” Wilking said.
A new lead about a sighting of Anne Elliott on North Temple Street in Salt Lake City has put new life into the search for the Jackson woman who vanished six years ago. (Google) 
A new lead about a sighting of Anne Elliott on North Temple Street in Salt Lake City has put new life into the search for the Jackson woman who vanished six years ago. (Google)
New Hope For Family
The news of this first big break after six years has brought hope to Elliott’s family, including her younger sister Emily Nardacci, of Pinedale, who has desperately been searching for her sister all these years.
Nardacci, in fact, had driven with her husband from their home in Pinedale to Utah the day Elliott was due to be released to pick her up.
They had planned in advance for Nardacci to pick Elliott up and take her to a drug rehabilitation program in another state.
Because the jail does not give exact times when inmates will be released out of concerns for their safety, Nardacci had no idea what time to meet her sister.
Instead, she and her husband and arrived early that morning and waited around the vicinity all day but never saw Elliott walk out of the facility.
Panicked and confused, the couple drove around the city that night and the entire next day before finally giving up and going home.
She assumed her sister had changed her mind about being picked up, which didn’t make sense to Nardacci given their prior conversations during her incarceration.
She and Elliott are exceptionally close, Nardacci said, and always stayed in contact no matter what might be happening in her sister’s life.
Finally, after weeks of not hearing from Elliott, Nardacci became concerned and reported her missing.
A Life Derailed
Elliott struggles with addiction after getting hooked on pain pills in her mid-20s after they were liberally prescribed by a Jackson-area doctor following a botched surgery, Nardacci said.
Her life went downhill fast, Nardacci added, as addiction took hold and Elliott cycled in and out of jails, rehab, and eventually among the throngs of the homeless in Salt Lake City.
Prior to her descent, Elliott was an amazing mother of her two boys, Nardacci said.
Elliott got pregnant and married at 17 while the family was living in the Star Valley area, but the marriage didn’t last.
From there, Elliott moved to Jackson, where she became certified as a dental hygienist and worked for a local dentist.
Her life was really on track at that time and, despite her failed marriage, Elliott was finding her footing and doing well.
Nardacci described her sister as “gorgeous” and an introvert who was quiet in school and never got into trouble as a teen. She also loved being a mother and taught her children healthy eating habits.
This is the sister she wants people to know, the doting mom and loving sister prior to the surgery that sent her life down a darker track.
It’s also a cautionary tale for others and how quickly addiction can take hold, Nardacci said.
“This was the height of the opioid era,” Nardacci said.
She’s seen many others fall into the same trap after innocuously being prescribed pain pills by well-meaning doctors, including her best friend, who died of a drug overdose.
Not Going To Quit
The sisters are 18 months apart, Nardacci said, and have also been closest of their four other siblings.
She’s also her sister’s biggest cheerleader and the one — along with their father, Jeffrey Elliott, an attorney, educator and poet living in California — who refuses to give up.
“She’s my sister,” Nardacci said with emotion in her voice. “How can I ever stop looking for her? She’d do the same for me.”
The renewed investigation gives Nardacci a new dash of hope of finally getting answers.
“I don’t think unless you’ve had someone missing you understand how this feels,” she said. “There’s no closure and it’s such a weird feeling to not know whether or not she’s even alive.”
Some days, she’s optimistic that Elliott might be.
Sees Her Everywhere
Recently, Nardacci traveled to Salt Lake City to provide police with her DNA.
While there, she went to see an aesthetician for a skin care treatment, and had the uncanny feeling that the aesthetician, who resembled Elliott, might actually be her sister.
She was quiet like Elliott, and for a minute, she thought Elliott might have found a new life and career — as crazy as that might sound, even to herself.
“I kept looking at her and it was like looking at Anne,” she said with a laugh. “The poor lady probably thought I was crazy staring at her like that.”
But that’s the thing, she said. The not knowing makes anything possible, bizarre as it might seem.
“I left that appointment feeling like I might be losing it, but that’s the reality of having a family member missing,” she said.
Her father likewise isn’t giving up on the fact that Elliott might still be alive, describing her disappearance as the most heartbreaking event in his life.
“Although time has eased the pain somewhat, the pain will never go away,” he said in a text to Cowboy State Daily. “I am hoping she is still alive and doing well someplace.”
Both Elliott’s family and the Salt Lake City Police Department implore anyone with information to come forward to help locate her and finally solve the mystery of what happened to the former Wyoming woman.
Anne is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Salt Lake City police at 801-799-3000. All tips may remain anonymous.
Information may also be provided to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or on the Crime Stoppers USA website.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
