Body of missing Gillette woman found Thursday, ending five-day search

GILLETTE (WNE) — The body of a woman who went missing Saturday in a harsh stretch of Campbell County south of Gillette has been found after dozens of people from multiple agencies spent days searching.

Tami Lynn Sturgeon, a 55-year-old Gillette woman, was found dead near a ravine Thursday at about 4:22 p.m., shortly after searchers discovered gloves and a cigarette butt they believe she had left behind, according to a press release issued Thursday by the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office.

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday and the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined by Campbell County Coroner Paul Wallem. Foul play is not suspected.

Sturgeon’s husband, 60, reported her missing at about 7 p.m. Saturday, and told investigators that he and his wife returned to the area to look for her lost cellphone after shed hunting there earlier that day.

The two walked in different directions while looking for the phone, and he ultimately reported her missing around nightfall. Deputies found Sturgeon’s cellphone Saturday night inside a side-by-side vehicle she and her husband had driven to the site that day, Reynolds said.

Winter weather entered the area that night, bringing low temperatures and snow which complicated the search.

The search area was in the vicinity of several open-pit coal mines south of Gillette, and railroad and coal mine workers had been told to look out for any signs of her.

“She was in a different area than we thought,” Sheriff Scott Matheny told the News Record.

Searchers and equipment from Crook, Johnson, Natrona, Sheridan, Washakie and Weston Counties took part in the multi-day effort, and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents provided phone location tracking and other assistance.

Matheny said this was among the most time and resource intensive searches in his decades with the sheriff’s office.

This story was published on March 28, 2024.