Shoe print found as neighboring counties join search for missing Gillette woman

GILLETTE (WNE) — Searchers found evidence Tuesday believed to have been left behind by a missing Gillette woman, as neighboring counties plan to join the search for the woman who went missing in Campbell County over the weekend.

The search began wide, looking for signs of Tami Lynn Sturgeon, 55, who went missing Saturday night south of Bishop Road where she and her 60-year-old husband returned to the rural area they had been shed hunting earlier that day.

Her husband reported her missing that night and search efforts began, although winter weather that kicked up overnight complicated the search efforts, Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds said.

While tightening the grid search Tuesday, a shoe print and cigarette butt of the brand Sturgeon was known to smoke were found in the area her husband said he last knew her to be, Reynolds said.

The couple had returned to the area and split up to search for the woman’s missing cellphone, the husband told Sheriff’s deputies. During a search Saturday night of a side-by-side vehicle the two had driven that day, deputies found the woman’s cellphone, Reynolds said.

Neighboring counties have helped look for the woman, with searchers operating a drone Wednesday belonging to Crook County. A Black Hawk helicopter from South Dakota flew over the area Monday looking for signs of the woman.

More counties plan to send people to Campbell County for a larger-scale search Thursday.

The shoe print and cigarette butt indicate that the woman was in the area her husband said and matches with the details and timeline he has provided, Reynolds said, but they don’t necessarily narrow down the range of possibilities where the woman may be.

This story was published on March 28, 2024.