Overview

Last seen: December 31, 2020, in the Riverton/Beaver Creek Housing area of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Main circumstances: Brown went to his sister Ann Howell’s home and wanted a ride to their older brother’s residence off 17 Mile Road. Howell could not leave immediately because her husband had a medical appointment, so Brown agreed to wait. When she was ready to take him, Brown had disappeared from the house, leaving his winter coat behind on a cold day. A relative later reported seeing someone believed to be Brown in a downtown Riverton park, but he disappeared before she could return to offer him a ride.

Current status: Missing; case remains open. No publicly confirmed evidence has established that Brown was killed, despite rumors and tips alleging foul play.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Rupert Brown Missing Person Case: What Happened on the Wind River Reservation in 2020?

Rupert Leo Brown, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, disappeared from the Riverton, Wyoming, area on December 31, 2020. Brown was 42 when he vanished from the Wind River Reservation, and more than five years later his whereabouts remain unknown. His case is still officially listed as open by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Brief Case Summary

Last seen: December 31, 2020, in the Riverton/Beaver Creek Housing area of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Main circumstances: Brown went to his sister Ann Howell’s home and wanted a ride to their older brother’s residence off 17 Mile Road. Howell could not leave immediately because her husband had a medical appointment, so Brown agreed to wait. When she was ready to take him, Brown had disappeared from the house, leaving his winter coat behind on a cold day. A relative later reported seeing someone believed to be Brown in a downtown Riverton park, but he disappeared before she could return to offer him a ride.

Current status: Missing; case remains open. No publicly confirmed evidence has established that Brown was killed, despite rumors and tips alleging foul play.

Rupert Brown Disappears on New Year’s Eve 2020

On the morning of December 31, 2020, Rupert Brown stopped at the home of his sister, Ann Howell, in the Beaver Creek housing community outside Riverton. He wanted Howell to drive him to their older brother’s home off 17 Mile Road, approximately a 10- to 15-minute drive across the Wind River Reservation. Howell later said there was nothing obviously unusual about her brother’s behavior. He reportedly sounded good and was looking forward to spending the New Year’s holiday with their brother.

Howell agreed to give Brown a ride but told him she first had to accompany her husband to a medical appointment. Brown agreed to wait at the house with her sons. When it was time to leave, however, he was nowhere to be found.

One detail immediately stood out: Brown had left his winter coat behind. Howell said leaving it made little sense given the cold weather and suggested to her that he may initially have intended to step outside only briefly. Thinking he might have found another ride or changed his plans, the family went to the appointment.

A Possible Sighting in Downtown Riverton

A relative later gave the family what may have been the final known sighting of Brown. According to Howell, a cousin reported seeing Brown in a downtown Riverton park after he had left Howell’s home. The cousin was traveling in a vehicle with her mother and turned around to offer him a ride. By the time they returned to the park only minutes later, Brown was gone.

The Charley Project similarly records this reported sighting as occurring after Brown left his sister’s residence. However, authorities have not publicly announced evidence showing where Brown went afterward.

Brown did not have a cell phone or bank account at the time, according to his family, eliminating two common sources investigators can use to reconstruct a missing person’s movements. He had also been staying with friends and occasionally went several days without contacting relatives, which initially made his absence less alarming. When nearly two weeks passed without contact, Howell became increasingly concerned and began asking relatives, friends and community members if they had seen him.

Search Efforts Begin in January 2021

Brown’s disappearance prompted a coordinated community and law-enforcement search. On January 20, 2021, volunteers joined the Wind River Police Department, FBI and Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game personnel in searching rugged terrain behind the Beaver Creek Housing area. The search was organized around the area where Brown had last been known to be before disappearing.

Early descriptions listed Brown as approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 140 pounds, with brown eyes and short dark hair. He was reported to have been wearing a white pullover sweatshirt and jeans. Sources also describe scars on his face, including one near his right eye.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs currently describes Brown as an American Indian/Alaska Native man with brown hair and brown eyes, standing 5 feet 6 inches and weighing approximately 140 pounds. His official BIA case page continues to list December 31, 2020, as his missing date and Riverton, Wyoming, as his last known location.

Rumors of Foul Play Have Never Been Confirmed

As the months and years passed without finding Brown, his family received numerous tips and rumors. Howell told Cowboy State Daily that some people alleged Brown had been murdered. She said the information she received was passed to the Wind River Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Those allegations should not be treated as established facts. As of the latest publicly available information, no reported tip or allegation of homicide has been substantiated, no remains have been publicly identified as Brown’s, and his government case remains classified as an open missing-person investigation.

There has also been information suggesting Brown might have traveled to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, where he reportedly had friends. No publicly confirmed sighting there has established that he reached Montana.

Latest Investigation Information

Brown’s case has received renewed federal attention in recent years. Howell told Cowboy State Daily in January 2026 that she had been contacted roughly a year earlier by Jolene Makeshine, a special agent associated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit. The BIA created Missing and Murdered Units within its Office of Justice Services to concentrate investigative resources on missing and murdered Indigenous-person cases.

At the time of the January 2026 report, Howell said the numerous tips and rumors received over the years had not produced an answer. Cowboy State Daily reported that requests to the agent, BIA and Wind River Police Department for a further investigative update went unanswered before publication.

The most current BIA public case listing continues to mark Rupert Brown’s investigation as Open and identifies Robert “Daniel” Ashcraft as the agent associated with the case. The BIA continues to accept information by telephone, text and email through its Missing and Murdered Unit.

The Charley Project also updated Brown’s case information on February 27, 2026, and continues to classify him as endangered missing.

Rupert Brown’s Family Continues to Seek Answers

Five years after his disappearance, Brown’s sisters were still publicly asking for information. Howell described continuing to look for her brother in public places and holding onto the hope that someone will eventually provide the information investigators need. Another sister, Victoria Brown, called for additional assistance in determining what happened to him.

For the family, even information that seems insignificant could help investigators reconstruct Brown’s movements. Authorities continue to encourage anyone who saw Brown around December 31, 2020, knows where he went after leaving Beaver Creek Housing, heard directly from him afterward, or possesses reliable information about what happened to him to contact investigators.

Rupert Brown remains missing, and there has been no publicly announced resolution to his case.