Five missing person reports filed in last year, Wyoming legislation provides guideline for reporting
SHERIDAN — The Sheridan County Sheriff's Office has had five missing person reports since January 2024. Senate File 114, passed during the recent legislative session, establishes standardized procedures and responsibilities for Wyoming law enforcement agencies regarding the reporting and handling of missing person cases.
Senate File 114 was amended to read that law enforcement agencies may make information publicly available about ongoing missing person investigations, including reports of missing persons submitted to law enforcement agencies under Wyoming Statute 7-2-109, which requires all law enforcement agencies to accept any credible reports of a missing person.
The new legislation discusses jurisdiction, database entry, mandatory acceptance of credible reports, unresolved cases and immediate actions.
Wyoming Statute
According to the Wyoming Legislative website, Senate file 114 states that all credible missing person reports must be accepted without delay, unless specific exceptions apply. Reports must be entered into state, regional and national databases within eight hours of receiving all required information.
“This will certainly help bring consistency throughout the state in how we investigate these types of cases,” Sheridan County Sheriff Levi Dominguez said.
Dominguez said his office, in addition to what’s listed in statute, uses cellphone data, when available, to assist in investigations — as long as it’s legal.
Despite popular belief due to movies and crime television shows, people do not have to wait 24 hours for a person to be missing before they file a missing persons report. Most of the time people call the Sheridan police to locate individuals and tell them to call home, Sheridan Police Department Capt. Tom Ringley said.
If a person is reported missing, SPD will ask questions about his/her routine, usual haunts and friends, and officers will check social media in case the missing person posted anything. Other agencies will also be notified, Ringley said.
“We take these reports very seriously and investigate them immediately,” Ringley said, noting he did not have department data for missing persons reports in 2024.
For cases where someone may be missing for an extended period of time, the sheriff’s office will work with the family to obtain DNA samples, dental and medical records to provide to national databases geared toward missing persons. All five missing person cases in 2024 were either not actually missing or were runaway juveniles that came home the same day, Dominguez said.
Another useful tool for law enforcement is the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response alert system — which is a nationwide network that helps law enforcement and the public locate abducted children. Ringley said the system is only used for life threatening situations and over the last five to 10 years, there have been no AMBER alerts deriving from Sheridan County.
If a child is abducted or is believed to be missing due to abduction, the AMBER alert system will send out a notification to all geographically relevant devices with details about the suspect, abducted child and the vehicle.
According to the AMBER alert website, as of Dec. 31, 2024, 1,268 children were successfully recovered through the AMBER alert system. The system is active and available in all 50 states.
This story was published on May 6, 2025.