They were more than missing. They were more than victims. They were someone’s everything.
A Summer That Should Have Been Ordinary
They were daughters, sisters, friends. Teenagers and young women standing on the edge of adulthood. Some were visiting relatives, some were locals. One had just moved to town, another was out for a simple walk to the movies. They lived in small towns that promised safety, celebrated rodeos, and trusted their communities. But between 1974 and 1981, six girls and women disappeared from Wyoming. Two were later found murdered. The rest remain missing to this day.
The summer air, thick with carnival smoke and firework haze, was supposed to carry laughter and music. Instead, it now holds silence—and questions that still echo fifty years later.
Carlene Brown and Christine Gross – The Best Friends Who Never Came Home
July 4, 1974. The Little Britches Rodeo in Rawlins was the event of the season. Among the crowd were 19-year-old Carlene Brown, a local, and her visiting best friend, Christine “Christy” Gross from Bowdle, South Dakota. The two had plans, dreams, and each other. That night, they disappeared without a trace. No one saw them leave. No one saw them taken.
Nine years later, Christine’s remains were discovered south of Sinclair—her skull fractured by two heavy blows. Carlene has never been found.
Carlene was adopted, active in school, and hardworking at the local dry cleaner. Christine was quiet but adventurous, the kind of friend who traveled across state lines to share a holiday. They weren’t just victims. They were young women full of promise who walked into a rodeo and never walked out.
Deborah Meyer – The Movie Night That Never Happened
Fifteen-year-old Deborah Meyer was visiting family in Rawlins from Red Lodge, Montana, in August 1974. She left the house to go see a movie. It was a short walk, just a few blocks. She never arrived. And she never came home.
Deborah was described as responsible, quiet, and kind. She wore a full set of dentures—rare for someone so young—and had a small round growth on her left ear. Police initially assumed she had run away. Her family insisted otherwise. They were right.
To this day, there are no remains, no suspects, no answers. Just a girl who left for a movie and vanished into thin air.
Jayleen Banker – The Smallest Voice, Lost in the Noise
Ten years old. That’s how young Jayleen Dawn Banker was when she disappeared from the Carbon County Rodeo in Rawlins on August 23, 1974. She had been there with friends, enjoying the rides, the food, the freedom that a summer night promised. But when it came time to go home, Jayleen was gone.
Eight months later, her remains were found in a culvert near Interstate 80—blunt force trauma to the skull, discarded like trash. She was tall for her age, known for her easy smile, and remembered for her innocence.
She was the youngest victim in a town that was losing too many of its girls.
Belinda Grantham – A New Start That Ended in Silence
In the summer of 1981, 20-year-old Belinda Mae Grantham was new to Casper, Wyoming. She had moved there recently, likely looking for work or a fresh start in the booming oil town. She went to the Natrona County Fair that July or August, hoping to meet people, enjoy herself, feel like she belonged.
Instead, she vanished.
Days later, her body was found in the North Platte River near Glenrock. Her cause of death remains unknown, but investigators ruled it a homicide. The details are scarce. The outrage is quieter. But Belinda deserves to be remembered as more than an afterthought. She was a young woman trying to build something—and someone took it from her.
Nancy Sellers – A Life Discarded and a Mystery Delayed
Nancy Ann Sellers was 24 when she went missing from Green River, Wyoming, in May 1981. She had just separated from her husband and was trying to find her footing again. She was smart, kind, and had a quiet strength about her. But one day, she simply stopped being seen.
Her remains weren’t identified until 2013—over 30 years after she disappeared. Where she was found, how she died, and who did it all remain hidden. What we know is this: Nancy didn’t walk away. Someone took her.
She had dreams. She had loved ones. And she had every right to be safe.
Their Names Are Not Footnotes
Carlene. Christine. Deborah. Jayleen. Belinda. Nancy.
These six women and girls didn’t know each other, but they are linked now by geography, timeline, and tragedy. Some were snatched from crowded fairgrounds. Others disappeared during quiet walks. Some were found. Some remain missing. All were failed by the systems that should have protected them.
Their lives were not defined by how they vanished—but by how they lived. They rode horses, played sports, giggled with friends, crushed on boys, helped their families, and chased futures that would never come.
At Dark Dialogue: Rocky Mountain Reckoning, we say their names not for spectacle, but for truth. For memory. For justice.
Because they were never just a case.
They were, and always will be, Wyoming’s daughters.
Do You Know Something?
If you have any information about the disappearances or deaths of Carlene Brown, Christine Gross, Deborah Meyer, Jayleen Banker, Belinda Grantham, or Nancy Sellers, contact the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation at (307) 777-7181 or the appropriate county sheriff's department.
Tips can be anonymous. Silence should never be the last word.
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