Woman vanished after car was stuck on dirt road, cops say. Mysterious shirt, boot found
The search is on for a woman who vanished after her car got stuck on a rugged Wyoming dirt road, according to a sheriff’s office.
Breanna Mitchell, 28, was last heard from when her car got stuck in “rugged terrain near Nowater Trail in Worland,” about 165 miles northwest of Casper, on July 22, according to a missing person’s flier shared by the Washakie County Sheriff’s Office and Worland Police Department on Facebook.
Mitchell’s family has not been able to contact her since, Sheriff Austin T. Brookwell said in a July 24 Facebook post, adding that her phone has been shut off.
During the initial days of searching, Brookwell said her car was found on a dirt road 2 miles off Nowater Trail.
Brookwell said deputies also found “footprints that led about 1,000 yards short of Nowater Road” but that the tracks couldn’t be followed any farther.
Again, a number of agencies and volunteers searched for Mitchell on July 25, but she was still not located, according to Brookwell.
Brookwell said the sheriff’s office planned to send a bloodhound crew the following morning to search a spot where a boot and shirt were found.
Though a bloodhound did detect a few places “she may have been,” Mitchell was still not found on July 26, Brookwell said.
In addition to searching the area, the sheriff’s office has been following up on leads and conducting interviews, Brookwell said.
“We are treating this as more than just a missing person,” Brookwell said, “just because we do not know exactly what happened yet.”
Mitchell’s car was towed from the road to “search for possible clues” into her disappearance, Brookwell said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also agreed to help with Mitchell’s case, Brookwell said.
“They have better technology to assist with managing data and better training when it comes to missing individuals,” Brookwell said.
Brookwell said the sheriff’s office has warrants to search Mitchell’s “cellular phone data, social media data, and email data.”
He said deputies hope this information will help paint a better picture as to whom she was in contact with in the days prior to her disappearance.
“To the family of Breanna we understand this situation is extremely frustrating, very confusing, and very depressing,” Brookwell said. “We are doing all we can to try and find her.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 7:40 AM with the headline "Woman vanished after car was stuck on dirt road, cops say. Mysterious shirt, boot found."
