Missing Idaho woman found in river
JACKSON (WNE) — A vehicle extracted Monday from the Buffalo Fork River near Moran in Grand Teton National Park contained a missing 54-year-old Idaho woman. Laura Lane was found deceased, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue confirmed.
Sgt. John Faicco of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office said two Texas fishermen located Lane’s wallet in the river near the Buffalo Fork Bridge while visiting the park. Lane was missing for over a month.
She was last seen on the morning of June 2 after she left her job in Buffalo, Wyoming, and began traveling back to her hometown of Nampa, Idaho. Her cellphone last showed that she passed through Moran around 1 p.m. before going dark.
Faicco said deputies canvassed the area and located a headlight on the side of the highway. After running the part number, deputies determined that it belonged to a 2013 Dodge Dart, Lane’s vehicle that she had been driving when her sister reported her missing. Cops then flew a drone over the river, which spotted a ripple coming from the vehicle’s roof, although it was still completely submerged.
The roof was in a spot where the riverbed was deep, Trooper Todd Baxter said, and the vehicle was still at least a foot underwater.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. Neither Faicco nor the agency knew the exact day or time Lane went off the road, or what caused her to land in the river.
“We determined that she went off road while traveling westbound on Highway 26 into the river,” Faicco said Tuesday.
This story was published on July 10, 2024.
