Overview

Last Known Contact: February 1, 2016, according to NamUs.

Reported Later Sighting: March 1, 2016.

Location: La Barge, Wyoming, including a reported sighting near the La Barge post office.

Age at Disappearance: 56.

Classification: Endangered Missing.

Main Circumstances: Orren’s family and friends stopped hearing from her in early 2016. A reported March sighting placed her with her boyfriend in a red Jeep. She was not formally reported missing to the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office until January 2017. Years later, investigators searched property belonging to Darrell “Pete” Petry for evidence connected with her disappearance. Orren has never been found.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Vanessa Sue Orren Missing Person Case: What Happened to the Wyoming Woman Who Vanished in 2016?

Vanessa Sue Orren, also known as “Nessy,” “Suzie,” and Sue, disappeared from the small southwestern Wyoming community of La Barge in 2016. She was 56 years old at the time. Nearly a decade later, Orren has not been located, and her disappearance remains unresolved.

Public records contain slightly different dates for when Orren was last known to be in contact with someone. NamUs records her date of last contact as February 1, 2016, while the Charley Project and later Wyoming reporting state that Orren was reportedly seen on March 1, 2016, near the La Barge post office, riding in a red Jeep with her boyfriend.

Very Brief Case Summary

Last Known Contact: February 1, 2016, according to NamUs.

Reported Later Sighting: March 1, 2016.

Location: La Barge, Wyoming, including a reported sighting near the La Barge post office.

Age at Disappearance: 56.

Classification: Endangered Missing.

Main Circumstances: Orren’s family and friends stopped hearing from her in early 2016. A reported March sighting placed her with her boyfriend in a red Jeep. She was not formally reported missing to the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office until January 2017. Years later, investigators searched property belonging to Darrell “Pete” Petry for evidence connected with her disappearance. Orren has never been found.

Vanessa Orren Disappears From La Barge

Orren was living in the La Barge area when contact with her family and acquaintances stopped. She was described at the time as approximately 5 feet to 5 feet 5 inches tall and roughly 110 to 115 pounds, with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes. She has pierced ears and a scar on her right calf. She has also used the surnames Carter and Grooms.

Determining precisely when Orren disappeared is complicated by conflicting information in the public record. NamUs uses February 1, 2016, as her last-contact date, and contemporary reporting from the Pinedale Roundup also described February 1 as the last time anyone recalled seeing or speaking with her. Other case databases, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office and later news reports identify March 1, 2016, as her last-seen date.

The Charley Project reports that Orren was seen at the La Barge post office on March 1, riding in a red Jeep with her boyfriend. After that, she was never heard from again.

Why Was Vanessa Orren Not Reported Missing Until 2017?

One of the unusual aspects of Orren’s disappearance is the lengthy period between her last known contact and the filing of the missing-person report.

Although Orren disappeared in early 2016, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office did not receive a formal missing-person report until January 2017. Once the report was received, investigators entered Orren into the National Crime Information Center and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and began investigating her whereabouts.

Reporting from the Pinedale Roundup said family members living outside Wyoming ultimately contacted a Sublette County investigator after they were unable to locate Orren. Detective Ian Allen was reported to have taken the case.

The delay is important when examining the investigation. By the time law enforcement formally began treating Orren as a missing person, approximately a year had passed since she had disappeared.

Differing Accounts of Vanessa’s Final Movements

There is another account of Orren’s departure that has circulated through family-related and missing-person sources.

A testimonial attributed to Orren’s sister, Tinker Lynch, on the Unfound Podcast website states that people who regularly encountered Vanessa stopped seeing her during March 2016. According to that account, Orren’s boyfriend told people that Vanessa had gotten into a truck with several men and left. That account has been repeated by Unfound but should be distinguished from independently verified law-enforcement findings.

Publicly available sources therefore leave unanswered questions about Orren’s final confirmed movements: whether the March 1 post-office encounter represents the final verified sighting, who last spoke directly with her, and what happened after she left the area where she was last observed.

Major Break in the Investigation: Search of Darrell “Pete” Petry’s Property

More than four years after Orren was reported missing, the case received renewed public attention.

Sublette County Sheriff’s Office detectives obtained a search warrant for property belonging to Darrell “Pete” Petry. Investigators were specifically authorized to search for evidence relating to Orren’s disappearance.

The search began on June 19, 2021, at Petry’s remote property near the Sublette-Lincoln county line. It became a significant multi-agency operation involving the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office along with the FBI, NecroSearch, Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Authorities did not publicly disclose what evidence or information established the basis for searching Petry’s property. Contemporary reporting said investigators had probable cause for the warrant, but officials declined to publicly explain what that probable cause consisted of or disclose the results of the search.

Darrell Petry Dies During the Search

Petry was present when investigators began searching his property on June 19.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Petry left the property the following day, June 20. He was not under arrest or being detained. Authorities subsequently began looking for him when he did not return.

On June 22, 2021, Sublette County deputies and Wyoming Highway Patrol personnel found Petry dead. Authorities investigated his death and determined that his fatal injury was self-inflicted. The Sheriff’s Office said foul play was not suspected.

Petry’s death generated considerable speculation surrounding Orren’s case. Law enforcement, however, did not publicly announce that Petry had been charged with a crime or formally identify him as the person responsible for Orren’s disappearance.

Reporting at the time noted that authorities were withholding details concerning the relationship between Petry and Orren and the probable cause underlying the property search. One Pinedale Roundup report also described Petry as Orren’s former boyfriend, while another reported that area residents said the two had been in a relationship at one time.

What Did Investigators Find?

That remains one of the biggest unanswered questions in the case.

The search of Petry’s property lasted several days and concluded on June 23, 2021. Officials did not publicly release a detailed inventory of evidence recovered or announce that Orren’s remains had been discovered.

A human skull discovered elsewhere in Sublette County around this period briefly attracted attention, but investigators explicitly said it was unrelated to the Orren investigation. An initial forensic assessment suggested the skull was at least approximately 100 years old.

Following the Petry search, authorities continued treating Orren as a missing person rather than declaring her deceased. A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said investigators were not assuming that Orren was dead and continued searching for her.

Investigation Remained Active After the Petry Search

In October 2021, the Pinedale Roundup reported that Orren’s investigation remained active months after the extensive property search. Officials had released few additional details, including little information about what had been found during the search or Petry’s exact connection to the investigative theory.

On National Missing Persons Day in February 2022, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office again publicly included Vanessa Orren among the county’s active missing-person cases and listed March 1, 2016, as her last-seen date.

Latest Public Information on the Vanessa Orren Investigation

Publicly available records reviewed through August 26, 2026 do not show that Orren has been located or that anyone has been criminally charged in connection with her disappearance.

A July 2025 Cowboy State Daily report continued to identify Vanessa Sue Orren as missing and repeated the reported March 1, 2016 sighting with her boyfriend in a red Jeep near the La Barge post office.

There was another noteworthy development in February 2026, although it was related to case awareness rather than a publicly announced law-enforcement breakthrough: the Doe Network added Orren to its missing-person database as case 5529DFWY. The Doe Network’s August 2026 update history continues to show her February 5, 2026 addition rather than listing her among resolved cases.

No later public announcement located in this review disclosed a recovery of Orren, an arrest, or a resolution of her disappearance. The most significant publicly documented investigative operation therefore remains the June 2021 search of Petry’s property.

Where the Case Stands

Vanessa Sue Orren disappeared from a small Wyoming community with few publicly documented clues explaining where she went.

Investigators know that family and friends lost contact with her in early 2016. Multiple sources describe a later sighting around March 1 near the La Barge post office. Nearly a year then passed before she was officially reported missing.

Years later, law enforcement developed enough information to obtain a search warrant specifically seeking evidence concerning Orren’s disappearance at Darrell Petry’s remote property. Petry died by suicide during that multi-day operation, leaving unanswered questions about what investigators hoped to learn from him and what led them to the property.

Authorities have never publicly announced that Vanessa Orren is deceased. Her case continues to be presented in missing-person databases, and anyone with information that could help determine what happened to her is encouraged to contact the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office.