Overview

Last seen: December 8, 1990
Location: Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming
Age: 26
Status: Murder victim; remains not recovered
NamUs: MP14579
Doe Network: 2081DFWY

Main circumstances: Lynn disappeared after she was reportedly going to a Casper grocery store. Her pickup was found at the store the next day. Investigators discovered blood evidence inside the vehicle and additional apparent blood evidence at the Bush residence. Later DNA testing associated the blood with Lynn. Her husband, David Labon Bush, was charged in 2006 and convicted of second-degree murder in 2007. He received a sentence of 45 years to life. Lynn’s remains have never been recovered.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Lynn Lennette Bush: The 1990 Casper, Wyoming Disappearance and No-Body Murder Conviction

Lynn Lennette Bush was 26 years old when she disappeared from Casper, Wyoming, on December 8, 1990. More than three decades later, her remains have never been recovered. What began as a missing-person investigation eventually became a murder prosecution, ending with the conviction of Lynn’s husband, David Labon Bush, despite prosecutors never having her body.

Last Seen: December 8, 1990 — Casper, Wyoming

Lynn was last known to be in Casper on December 8, 1990. According to the account her husband gave police, she left to shop at the Buttrey’s grocery store near East 12th Street and Beverly Street and never returned home. A grocery receipt associated with her pickup showed a purchase at approximately 5:30 p.m. that evening.

The following day, December 9, David Bush reported Lynn missing. He told authorities that he had found her 1985 Ford F-150 in the grocery-store parking lot. The driver’s door was reportedly open, keys were lying nearby, and groceries remained with the vehicle.

A Missing-Person Case Quickly Raises Questions

Lynn’s family did not believe she would voluntarily abandon her young daughter. Investigators also began finding circumstances that made a voluntary disappearance increasingly difficult to reconcile with the evidence.

On December 13, 1990, police executed a search warrant and seized the pickup. Officers found apparent bloodstains in multiple areas inside the cab. Luminol testing indicated that a substantial amount of blood may have been present in the passenger compartment. Investigators also recovered a vodka bottle with what appeared to be blood on it from the Bush residence.

The Wyoming Supreme Court’s later account of the case states that an officer testified David made a striking remark while watching investigators search the truck, asking why they were doing it and referring to himself as “the murderer.” That statement became one of numerous pieces of circumstantial evidence considered during the eventual prosecution.

Years Without Lynn — or Her Remains

No confirmed evidence emerged showing that Lynn began another life after December 1990. Investigators later reviewed law-enforcement contacts and other records and found no indication that she had resurfaced. Her Social Security number reportedly was not used after she disappeared, and she was declared legally dead in 1999.

Her body, however, remained missing.

Over the years, investigators continued examining statements from people who knew David Bush. Witnesses described comments he allegedly made concerning killing Lynn, disposing of a body and committing a murder without leaving a body behind. A National Guard member also reported that items, including two body bags, were missing around the period Lynn disappeared. These allegations later became part of the prosecution’s circumstantial case.

DNA Changes the Case

Advances in forensic technology eventually allowed investigators to revisit physical evidence collected in 1990.

DNA testing connected Lynn to blood evidence recovered from the family’s pickup and from the vodka bottle found inside the Bush home. Combined with renewed witness interviews, a review of the original investigation and other evidence, the DNA results helped authorities move forward with a homicide prosecution more than 15 years after Lynn vanished.

In August 2006, David Labon Bush was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Lynn’s disappearance. Prosecutors faced an unusual challenge: they intended to prove that Lynn had been murdered even though her remains had never been located.

The 2007 No-Body Murder Trial

David Bush’s trial began March 5, 2007, in Natrona County. Prosecutors presented physical evidence, witness testimony and evidence concerning statements allegedly made by David during the years following Lynn’s disappearance.

The trial also included testimony concerning statements Lynn and David’s young daughter had made while receiving mental-health treatment after her mother’s disappearance. The admissibility of some of those statements later became an issue in David’s appeal.

On March 20, 2007, jurors acquitted David of first-degree murder but found him guilty of second-degree murder in Lynn’s death. The court sentenced him to 45 years to life in prison, with credit for 325 days already served.

The conviction made Lynn’s case a notable example of a successful American murder prosecution in which the victim’s body had not been recovered.

Appeals and the Conviction

David appealed his conviction to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Among other arguments, he challenged the admission of statements made by his daughter, restrictions involving evidence concerning an alternative suspect and the approximately 15½-year delay before prosecutors charged him.

On September 17, 2008, the Wyoming Supreme Court found no reversible error and affirmed the second-degree murder conviction.

Later federal litigation was also unsuccessful. A 2026 review of the case notes that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied David Bush a certificate of appealability in March 2012.

Latest Available Case Information

As of August 2026, the central unresolved question is no longer whether someone was convicted of Lynn’s murder. David Labon Bush was convicted in 2007, and that conviction survived appellate review. The unresolved question is where Lynn’s remains are located.

Current missing-person resources continue to list Lynn because her remains have never been recovered. NamUs-associated records identify her as MP14579, while the Doe Network identifies her as 2081DFWY.

Wyoming has also expanded its statewide approach to long-unsolved cases. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation reports that legislation enacted in 2024 required it to develop and maintain a cold-case database for qualifying unsolved homicides and felony sexual offenses. Because David Bush has already been convicted of Lynn’s murder, her situation differs from an unsolved homicide: the outstanding mystery is the recovery of her remains.

A July 2026 published review of Lynn’s case likewise reports no recovery of her remains and identifies the DNA evidence from the pickup and vodka bottle as a critical development that ultimately helped bring the case to trial. No credible public source located for this update reports that Lynn has been found.

Very Brief Case Summary

Last seen: December 8, 1990
Location: Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming
Age: 26
Status: Murder victim; remains not recovered
NamUs: MP14579
Doe Network: 2081DFWY

Main circumstances: Lynn disappeared after she was reportedly going to a Casper grocery store. Her pickup was found at the store the next day. Investigators discovered blood evidence inside the vehicle and additional apparent blood evidence at the Bush residence. Later DNA testing associated the blood with Lynn. Her husband, David Labon Bush, was charged in 2006 and convicted of second-degree murder in 2007. He received a sentence of 45 years to life. Lynn’s remains have never been recovered.