The parents of a missing 17-year-old Lovell girl are asking for the public’s help in locating her, and an anonymous donor is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to her safe return.
Kourtnee Roper has been missing since Wednesday morning, Feb. 11. She was last spotted by her sister at the high school they attend but told her that she had forgotten something at home and would be right back.
She never made it. When her mother, Sarah Pitt, received notification that she had skipped school, Pitt immediately contacted police and her husband filed a missing persons report by 9 a.m.
Since then, she and other family members and friends have spent the last two days driving across the town and county in a desperate attempt to find her.
There’s a reason the Pitts are concerned for their daughter because she may be experiencing a mental health emergency. Her doctor was in the process of switching Roper’s medication, which had drastically impacted her behavior in recent days and weeks.
A breakup with her boyfriend over the weekend has also exacerbated Roper’s mental decline, according to her mother. She’s also still recovering from a surgical procedure she had last week.
“She’s such a good girl,” Pitt said. “We miss her and just want her home.”
Finding her has proven difficult, Pitt said, because she doesn’t have a cell phone, which they recently revoked as part of a disciplinary action.
She also left her purse, wallet, debit card and license at home as well as any other electronic devices and has no money.
She did, however, take her medication which is worrying to her parents given her recent behavior.
Police Optimistic
The Lovell Police Department is actively searching and following up on any and all leads, according to Dusty Schultz, patrolman with the department.
Schultz said that so far none of the tips have panned out; however, new information they’ve received that he can’t currently disclose points to a positive development.
“They haven’t gotten us any closer, but some of the leads are letting us know she’s still alive, which is a good thing,” he said.
He urged anyone with information or who thinks they may have seen Roper to contact his office immediately and not wait several hours to report.
People tend to wait to call, he said, which makes it much harder to follow up on a tip.
“Then we try to chase it down, and it’s pretty stale by then,” he said. “If we get something in real time, even if it doesn’t check out, it’s not a waste of our time. Any leads are worth checking.”
Schultz further said there’s no indication one way or the other on whether Roper has left the county or if someone might be helping her to stay concealed.
He asked residents to be on the lookout for Roper and her vehicle.
She’s driving a 2007 red Buick Lucerne with a black bumper and a Wyoming County9 license plate No. 96865. The car does have OnStar capabilities, Pitt said, but it hasn’t been activated so there’s no way to trace her location.
Reward Available
An anonymous benefactor has put forward $2,500 as a reward for anyone providing information that leads to the 17-year-old's safe return. Should Roper come home on her own, the money will go to her, Pitt said, according to the donor’s instructions.
So far, Pitt has also not received any verifiable information on where her daughter might have gone but said there’s a remote chance she may have gone to Billings, where she planned to attend school, or to Gillette, where her former boyfriend lives.
Roper has also expressed a desire to move to Georgia after school, but it’s unlikely she has the means to drive there and so far, there have been no hits on license plate readers in or out of the state.
The Pitts want to make it clear to their daughter that she will not be punished or hospitalized upon her return.
“We just want her home,” Pitt said on her way to school where she works as an elementary teacher. “She’s very loved and missed by her family.”
Roper is described as having black hair and blue eyes and stands 5 feet, 1 inches, weighing about 165 pounds. When she left that morning, she was wearing gray Nike sweats, a camo sweatshirt and white Hey Dude tennis shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lovell Police Department at: 307-548-2215 or the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation at: 307-777-7181. Tips can also be submitted anonymously on DCI’s website.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
