Discarded gun leads to remains of man who vanished 3 years ago, Wyoming cops say
A group of hunters found a discarded gun in Wyoming, and it led to the discovery of the remains of a man who went missing during a hunting trip three years ago, authorities said.
By using dental records and examining the remains, they were confirmed as Mark Strittmater’s, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office said in an Oct. 26 Facebook post.
“At this time, both the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office and the Carbon County Coroner’s Office have no evidence suggesting there is foul play indicated,” the sheriff’s office said.
Strittmater “went missing on October 19, 2019 while hunting in the Sierra Madres,” the post said.
Strittmater was hunting in Medicine Bow National Forest alone and was not heard from after texting his girlfriend at 11 a.m., the Casper Star-Tribune reported. Search efforts were suspended later that month.
Three years later, hunters, who “were south of Rawlins,” stumbled upon a gun in vegetation on Oct. 16, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office said in an Oct. 21 Facebook post.
Through an initial search by the sheriff’s office and others, “partial human remains” and “personal belongings” were found in a “densely wooded area” near the same spot the gun was found, officials said. During a second search on Oct. 20, more partial remains and belongings were discovered.
“This has been an ongoing case within the Sheriff’s Office, and we are pleased to learn of the positive identification,” the sheriff’s office said.
Rawlins is about 120 miles southwest of Casper.
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Discarded gun leads to remains of man who vanished 3 years ago, Wyoming cops say."
