missing man

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

An arm bone found near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, last year likely does not belong to a missing Moorcroft man, according to Nebraska authorities.

However, officials are still waiting for conclusive DNA evidence to definitely rule out a possible connection between the bone and Chance Englebert, who has been missing for more than two years.

Englebert, then 25, disappeared on July 6, 2019, during a trip to see his wife’s family in Gering, Nebraska. 

The lower piece of a human arm bone was found by hunters last October near the North Platte River in western Nebraska. 

The bone had initially been sent to the University of Nebraska crime lab for a DNA analysis of the bone marrow, but due to the age and condition of the bone, which had been under water, the lab was unable to complete the testing, according to Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman.

It has since been sent to a lab at a Florida university for testing, Overman said. No estimate has been provided as to when the testing might be completed, he added.

Given the location of the bone downstream on the North Platte River, Overman said his department identified two potential missing persons the bone might have come from, Englebert and Walter “Gene” Patterson-Black.

The color of the piece of clothing found near the bone, however, bears a closer match that reportedly worn by Patterson-Black — not the blue shirt Englebert was wearing at the time he was last seen.

Lead Investigator Brian Eads of the Gering Police Department said that he, too, believes the bone likely does not belong to Englebert and has shared this with Englebert’s family. 

“We are still awaiting DNA confirmation, but we have no reason to believe this was Chance based on the evidence,” he said.

That said, Overman said investigators are not ruling anything out.

“What I will tell you is we go with the evidence,” Overman told Cowboy State Daily Tuesday afternoon. “So, we’ve got two missing people that we know of who could have had connections to the river…so it could be either one.”

Patterson-Black has been missing since May 12, 2016, according to The Charley Project, a national non-profit that provides information about missing person cases.

The 72-year-old man had been wearing a tan, plaid long-sleeve shirt when he was last seen in Scottsbluff. His abandoned SUV was found in the parking lot of the YMCA, and it’s thought that he may have intentionally gone into the North Platte River, which was swollen with rain at the time, according to his profile. 

Englebert’s fate remains a mystery despite multiple searches, thousands of tips, dozens of podcasts and extensive local and national media attention.

Friends and family members are offering $17,000 award for information that will lead to the discovery of Englebert or the identity of any suspects responsible for his disappearance. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Gering Police Department at (308) 436-5088 or private investigator Amanda Waldron at (307) 797-0363 or the We Help the Missing tip line at (866) 660-4025. 

Tips can remain anonymous.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The mother of an Irish man who disappeared while hiking in Grand Teton National Park has traveled to Wyoming to attempt a recovery of her son.

Grainne McLaughlin spoke with Irish news outlet RTE News this week while in the park and pleaded for people who were in the area around June 8 and might have seen her son, Cian McLaughlin, to come forward.

“Cian was a very outgoing guy, loved being outdoors,” the mother said. “If you met Cian, he’d stop and have a chat. He was living here for two years, he had dual citizenship.”

Grainne McLaughlin explained that Cian would work as a snowboard instructor in the winter and would work in the Jackson-area bars during the summer. She added her son was popular and had many friends both in Ireland and the United States.

Cian McLaughlin, 27, was last seen at around 2:30 p.m. June 8, about one-half mile from the Lupine Meadows Trailhead in the park. His vehicle was found days later.

“Despite the rangers’ massive search, I think they’ve put about 5,000 hours into it, we’ve still had no luck in finding anything,” his mother said. “He was well-versed in the mountains. He grew up hiking with me, his dad, my brother. He’s well-versed with equipment, gear, so we’re sure he was out on a day hike.”

McLaughlin was wearing a white t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a red Apple Watch, wire-rimmed sunglasses and a silver necklace at the time of his disappearance. 

Grainne McLaughlin suggested that although it was June when her son disappeared, the snow runoff in the area he was hiking could have been a factor.

“All of the waterfalls were gushing, there would have been [snow]melt underneath ice, so it’s tricky, it’s a tricky time of year,” she said.

McLaughlin is 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes. He has an Irish accent and would be considered thin or fit.

McLaughlin is the only person who disappeared in the park this summer who has not yet been found. Gabby Petito was found in Bridger-Teton National Forest, not far from the park, in mid-September and her death has been ruled a homicide.

Robert Lowery also was last seen in Grand Teton in August, and his body was found in September, as well. His death was ruled a suicide.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

New leads and information about what happened the night a Moorcroft man went missing more than two years ago have been coming in, according to a private investigator who recently picked up the case, as the reward money increases to $14,750 following a fundraiser for the family.

Though she couldn’t divulge any of those leads or information at this time, Amanda Waldron, private investigator with the national non-profit We Help the Missing (WHTM), said that new witnesses have contacted her with information about the night of Englebert’s disappearance.

“Multiple people have come forward,” she said. “Typically, most cases are 5,000 piece puzzles but this one is more like a 10,000-piece.”

Chance Englebert, then 25, disappeared July 6, 2019, during a weekend trip with his wife and young son to visit her family in Gering, Nebraska. 

It’s unclear what transpired that day, but Englebert had been golfing with his father-in-law and other members of his wife’s family and reportedly got into an argument over the new job that he’d recently accepted after being laid off from a coal mine.

Englebert called his wife to come get him and told her he wanted to return home to Wyoming. When his wife refused to leave, he called a friend to come get him, but the friend was not able to make the drive, so Englebert allegedly started walking toward Torrington. 

He was last spotted on surveillance footage walking in downtown Gering on the 700 block of O Street, wearing Wrangler jeans, plaid shirt and a trucker’s cap.

The last text message from his phone was sent just after 9 p.m. that day and contained an incomprehensible jumble of numbers and emojis, according to his mom Dawn, who questions whether someone else had his phone as he never used the symbols in his messages. 

Despite a massive search involving 17 agencies, drones, divers, cadaver dogs and hundreds of volunteers on foot, horseback and ATVs – as well as several searches led by friends over the past two years between Gering and Torrington – Englebert remains missing.

His case has been the subject of dozens of missing person and true crime podcasts, most recently on InHuman: A True Crime Podcast.

Waldron is in the process of tracking these new leads down and encourages anyone with information to come forward.

“I’d suggest people need to get ahead of this before criminal charges start happening as we get closer to getting answers,” she said Monday. “Someone innocent is protecting someone guilty, and it would be in their best interest to come forward.” 

Gering Police continue to receive tips and conduct interviews, Brian Eads, lead investigator on the case, said, though they haven’t seen a boost in new people coming forward after the reward money was recently increased $2,700 to $14,750 for any information leading to solving the case.

The new funds are the result of a fundraiser by business owner and neighbor, who lives near the  Englebert’s ranch outside Edgemont, South Dakota, and who also lost a son in an ATV accident.

Ironically, Englebert had taken the young boy’s loss hard, asking his mother how a parent goes on after losing a child. He didn’t think he could take the pain, he told his mom.

“I told him it’s the best and hardest job you’ll ever had,” Dawn said, thanking her community and all the people who are helping to help bring Chance home.

“His family and community need him home,” she said. “We will complete the puzzle yet, and Chance will be where he belongs.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Gering Police Department at (308) 436-5088 or private investigator Amanda Waldron at (307) 797-0363 or the We Help the Missing tip line at (866) 660-4025.  Tips can remain anonymous.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Law enforcement and family members are seeking the public’s help in locating a 39-year-old Casper man who has been missing for more than three weeks.

Darren Thunehorst was last seen at the end of August at his former address on A Street in Casper, according to a Tuesday post on the Casper Police Department’s Facebook page.

Thunehorst has missed work and other important events he typically would not miss, his sister Aha Rha said on a Facebook post on the “Missing People of Wyoming” page.

She added he has not contacted family or friends and is not receiving calls on his phone.

“We are very concerned,” she said.

The Casper Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment prior to publication.

Thunehorst is described as 5 feet, 10-inches tall with red hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Casper Police Department at (307) 235-8278.

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By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

The Casper Police Department continues to seek the public’s help in locating a 36-year-old Casper man who has been missing for nearly two months.

Ryan Schroeder was last heard from on June 26 after reportedly being dropped off a convenience store in the Denver area by a friend.

While Schroeder’s sisters, Allyson Schroeder and Cassidy Dieguez, said Sunday they believe their brother actually returned to Wyoming after the second of two trips to Colorado, investigators don’t believe he returned to Wyoming after June 26.

His family fears that Schroeder is in danger, his sisters said, and they are gravely worried about his safety and ask the public for help.

“If this was someone else’s loved one, they’d want that person to come forward with any information,” Allyson Schroeder said.

Schroeder is more than just a face on a poster, Dieguez added, noting that he’s a father and grandfather and that his children and family love and miss him greatly. 

Schroeder’s whereabouts are being actively investigated by multiple law agencies both in Wyoming and in Colorado, according to Casper Police Department Public Information Officer Rebekah Ladd, who urges anyone with information to come forward. 

Schroeder’s case has also been taken up by private investigator Amanda Waldron of “We Help the Missing,” a nonprofit organization founded in Utah with volunteers all over the country.

Schroeder is described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 190 to 200 pounds. He has brown thinning hair, a short beard and blue eyes. He also has multiple tattoos on his left arm, including an American flag, a pistol and math equations as well as a green skull and numbers on his left hand and fingers and a cross and angel wings on his right arm. 

Schroeder typically wears a T-shirt, khaki shorts, tennis shoes, and a baseball cap. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Casper Police Department Detective Shannon Daley at (307) 235-8278 or e-mail at sdaley@casperwy.gov. 

Tips can also be reported anonymously and that person may be eligible for a monetary reward by reporting through Crime Stoppers of Central Wyoming by calling (307) 577-8477 or online at crime-stoppers.com. 

Tips can also be submitted anonymously to the We Help the Missing tip line at (866) 660-4025.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Sublette County officials were searching Monday for a Cheyenne man who disappeared while hiking in the Wind River Mountains over the weekend.

Thor Hallingbye, 41, was last seen in the vicinity of Gannett Peak in the mountain range near Pinedale on Saturday afternoon. He was last seen wearing a red backpack.

According to a social media post by his wife, Jenileah Hallingbye, Thor got separated from his group after summiting Gannett Peak. He was last seen around 2 p.m. Saturday, “about 30 minutes from the top.”

She noted that the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office will be using helicopters to search for her husband on Monday.

“Please say prayers for Thor,” she wrote. “Please pray that he is safe and that he will be found. We have faith that he is okay.”

Hallingbye is 5-foot, 7-inches, 125 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information regarding Hallingbye’s disappearance should call the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office at 307-367-4378.

This is not the first person to have disappeared following recreating in the remote areas of Wyoming. Jackson resident Cian McLaughlin was last seen hiking in Grand Teton National Park in early June, but has not been seen since.

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