Overview

Homicide location: Rural Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho
Victims discovered: June 19, 2017
Victims: Cheryl Baker, 56; Nadja Medley, 48; Payton Medley, 14
Cause/circumstances: All three were found shot to death and concealed in a shed on property associated with Bullinger.
Suspect: Gerald Michael “Mike” Bullinger
Charges: Three counts of first-degree murder; separate felony warrant for failure to report the deaths.
Last confirmed sighting: Approximately June 11, 2017, Ogden, Utah area.
Last major physical clue: Bullinger-associated Ford Focus discovered July 12, 2017, at a remote campground in the Pacific Creek area of Bridger-Teton National Forest near Moran, Wyoming.
Current status: Bullinger has never been located. His disappearance remains unresolved, and recent missing-person documentation lists the case in Wyoming.

Main Circumstances

• Bullinger was connected to both Cheryl Baker and Nadja Medley.
• Baker, Medley and Medley’s 14-year-old daughter Payton were killed at the Caldwell property.
• Bullinger disappeared before authorities discovered their bodies.
• His vehicle was later found abandoned in remote western Wyoming.
• Extensive searches failed to locate Bullinger or conclusively establish what happened to him.
• Investigators have considered the possibility that Bullinger died in the wilderness.
• No publicly confirmed recovery of Bullinger or his remains has been reported.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Michael Gerald Bullinger / Gerald Michael Bullinger: 2017 Idaho Triple Homicide and Wyoming Disappearance

Gerald Michael “Mike” Bullinger became the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 2017 after three people were found shot to death at a rural property near Caldwell, Idaho. The victims were his wife, Cheryl Baker, 56, his girlfriend, Nadja Medley, 48, and Medley’s 14-year-old daughter, Payton Medley. Bullinger disappeared before investigators discovered the bodies and has never been located.

His disappearance ultimately shifted a major part of the investigation hundreds of miles east to the wilderness of western Wyoming, where a vehicle connected to the case was discovered abandoned near Grand Teton National Park.

Three Victims Found at Caldwell, Idaho Property

On June 19, 2017, law enforcement conducted a welfare check at the rural Caldwell property associated with Bullinger. Investigators discovered three badly decomposed bodies concealed in a shed on the property.

Authorities determined that all three victims had been shot. They were later identified as Cheryl Baker, Nadja Medley and Payton Medley.

Baker had recently been preparing to move from Utah to Idaho with Bullinger. At the same time, Nadja and Payton Medley had also become connected to the Caldwell residence. Reporting from the period indicated that Nadja had been involved in a relationship with Bullinger while Baker was his wife.

Investigators initially described Bullinger as a person of interest. He could not be found after the bodies were discovered, and authorities warned the public that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Bullinger Disappears

Bullinger was last confirmed seen in the Ogden, Utah area around June 11, 2017, according to investigators and contemporary reports.

That date became particularly significant because Baker reportedly sent an unsettling message to a friend around the same period indicating uncertainty about whether she would return.

Neighbors near the Caldwell property also told investigators about unusual activity in early June, including a scream reportedly heard sometime between June 6 and June 10. These reports helped investigators establish the approximate period in which the killings may have occurred, but they did not establish an exact date of death.

Bullinger had disappeared by the time authorities entered the property.

The Investigation Moves to Wyoming

A major break came in July 2017.

On July 12, 2017, the white 2007 Ford Focus associated with Bullinger and the investigation was discovered abandoned at a remote campground in the Pacific Creek area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Moran, Wyoming, close to Grand Teton National Park.

Investigators believed the vehicle could have been sitting there for weeks.

The discovery triggered an extensive multi-agency operation in the surrounding wilderness. Authorities searched the Pacific Creek area and portions of the Bridger-Teton National Forest using personnel, dogs, aircraft and other resources.

The search involved Wyoming authorities as well as federal agencies and investigators from Idaho.

Despite the size of the operation, investigators found no confirmed trace of Bullinger.

Possible Sightings and the Expanding Manhunt

Authorities investigated possible sightings after the vehicle was discovered.

One notable report came from the Fall Creek area near Swan Valley, Idaho, on July 20, 2017. Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies searched the area but could not confirm that the person reported was Bullinger.

The search was complicated by the enormous amount of wilderness surrounding the location where the Ford Focus had been abandoned.

Bullinger also had experience as a pilot and was reported to have outdoor or survival experience. Investigators therefore had to consider several possibilities: that he had escaped the area, that someone had helped him, or that he had entered the wilderness and died there.

None has been conclusively established through the recovery of Bullinger himself.

Three First-Degree Murder Charges

The investigation changed significantly on August 8, 2017, after DNA testing confirmed the identities of Nadja and Payton Medley. Cheryl Baker had previously been identified through dental records.

Authorities announced that additional physical evidence and the identification of the victims supported filing homicide charges against Bullinger.

The Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed three counts of first-degree murder.

Bullinger was already wanted on a felony warrant for failing to report the deaths. The homicide warrant was added as a nationwide, no-bond warrant.

Investigators said the evidence against Bullinger was strong, although the precise motive remained unresolved.

What Investigators Believe Happened

One widely discussed theory concerns Bullinger’s relationships with Baker and Medley.

Family members and friends told reporters that the two women apparently had not known about each other. Both were preparing for lives connected to the newly purchased Idaho property.

Relatives subsequently speculated that the killings may have occurred when Bullinger’s relationships collided and his deception was exposed.

That remains a theory rather than a judicially established motive. Bullinger has never been arrested or tried, and investigators have not been able to question him about what happened.

What authorities did establish was that all three victims had connections to Bullinger and the Caldwell property, all three were killed, and Bullinger vanished around the same period.

Searches Continued After 2017

The disappearance did not end with the original Wyoming search.

By the second anniversary of the killings in 2019, investigators reported that additional searches had been conducted in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, including searches involving search-and-rescue personnel and cadaver dogs.

Nothing conclusively connected to Bullinger was recovered.

Authorities acknowledged that evidence led them to seriously consider that Bullinger had died after entering the Wyoming wilderness. Canyon County investigators nevertheless declined to completely eliminate the possibility that he remained alive.

Hundreds of tips were investigated, including tips generated after national television coverage of the case.

Latest Investigation Information

The most important recent development is not the discovery of Bullinger, but the continued documentation of his unresolved disappearance.

In April 2026, the Doe Network added Michael Gerald Bullinger as a Wyoming missing-person case under 7175DMWY, documenting him as missing from Wyoming since 2017.

No credible public report located through August 2026 establishes that Bullinger has been arrested, found alive or that human remains have been positively identified as his.

Recent coverage continues to describe the case as unresolved because Bullinger himself has never been recovered. The longstanding investigative theory that he may have died in the remote Wyoming wilderness remains plausible, but without remains and a positive identification, it cannot provide a definitive answer to what happened after he reached Wyoming.

The distinction is important: law enforcement has publicly expressed extremely high confidence about responsibility for the Caldwell homicides, but Bullinger’s own disappearance remains physically unresolved.

Very Brief Case Summary

Homicide location: Rural Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho
Victims discovered: June 19, 2017
Victims: Cheryl Baker, 56; Nadja Medley, 48; Payton Medley, 14
Cause/circumstances: All three were found shot to death and concealed in a shed on property associated with Bullinger.
Suspect: Gerald Michael “Mike” Bullinger
Charges: Three counts of first-degree murder; separate felony warrant for failure to report the deaths.
Last confirmed sighting: Approximately June 11, 2017, Ogden, Utah area.
Last major physical clue: Bullinger-associated Ford Focus discovered July 12, 2017, at a remote campground in the Pacific Creek area of Bridger-Teton National Forest near Moran, Wyoming.
Current status: Bullinger has never been located. His disappearance remains unresolved, and recent missing-person documentation lists the case in Wyoming.

Main Circumstances

No publicly confirmed recovery of Bullinger or his remains has been reported.

Bullinger was connected to both Cheryl Baker and Nadja Medley.

Baker, Medley and Medley’s 14-year-old daughter Payton were killed at the Caldwell property.

Bullinger disappeared before authorities discovered their bodies.

His vehicle was later found abandoned in remote western Wyoming.

Extensive searches failed to locate Bullinger or conclusively establish what happened to him.

Investigators have considered the possibility that Bullinger died in the wilderness.