Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday have prompted a lengthy identification process that investigators say could take months, while renewing hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.
Deputies with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office say a deceased individual was discovered in a building on Happy Jack Road. The remains were "essentially skeletal."
The sheriff's office, working with the Laramie County Coroner's Office, said there is no evidence of foul play or any threat to the public.
The discovery has already stirred emotions across Wyoming's missing persons community.
"You're excited because you want closure," said Desirée Tinoco, founder of Missing People of Wyoming. "You want one of those cases that, for years, has been forgotten."
Then comes the realization that every identification also brings devastating news to someone.
"You start to really sympathize and understand this is going to be terrible news also for somebody," Tinoco said. "They are going to get answers, and it's obviously not what they want to hear."
Stacy Koester, president of the Gillette-based nonprofit WyoFind Search, Rescue and Recovery of the Missing, said families across the state experience the same emotional conflict whenever unidentified remains are found.
Loved ones "are both anxious and terrified," she said. "They're hopeful that it could be their person, but they're also terrified that it's their person. They're hopeful because then they'd have answers, but they're terrified because those answers could be devastating."
Who Could It Be?
Both Tinoco and Koester said the location immediately made them think of Nash Quinn, the Laramie-area man who vanished July 8, 2024.
Quinn frequently rode his bicycle in the Pilot Hill, Rogers Canyon and Happy Jack Road areas. Deputies and aerial search teams spent days combing those locations after he disappeared.
Both women, however, stressed there is no evidence connecting the newly discovered remains to Quinn.
Tinoco said that after hearing a dispatch call that the clothing found with the remains might date to the 1990s, she realized the remains could just as easily belong to someone who disappeared decades ago or even someone merely passing through Wyoming.
Before investigators had released many details, she had already received a call from a woman in Colorado whose missing friend was last seen wearing clothing similar to what early reports described.
"Could it be related? We don't know," Tinoco said. "I told her to contact the sheriff's office. That's what you always want to do."
Koester likewise cautioned against speculation.
"Rumors tend to fly like wildfire," she said. "Nobody knows anything except for law enforcement, and everybody needs to be patient and wait for law enforcement to do what they have to do."
Long Wait Ahead
Every discovery, Tinoco said, has the potential to unlock something that had long been buried.
"Getting those new tips, getting that new traction on cases, is what we want," she said. "Even if it isn't for that case, it'll get some good attention on it."
Investigators say the identification process may take several months because of the condition of the remains. No additional information will be released until authorities positively identify the deceased and notify next of kin.
Tinoco said cases like this also remind people how many Wyoming disappearances remain unsolved, some dating back decades.
She noted that many of those investigations are so old the original investigators have retired or died, leaving families and nonprofit organizations to continue pushing for answers.
For now, investigators are asking for patience while they work to determine who was found inside the abandoned building.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
