I’m with Occam’s Razor on this. I believe they are in a body of water.

Yep. I have little doubt of that. I'll have to look up the AwP video, but.. I'd be checking every body of water within a 5 mile radius of that hotel.

I waffle on AwP.. I mean, they do great work.. Work that needs to be done.. But I do tend to have a bit of a problem with how they go about it. I get it.. They spend a lot of money doing this, so their YT videos recoup some of that.

But... I do get the oogie feelings watching them.

Yeah the jewelry and fancy car gives pause but more than likely it was just an accident.

After reading my article a friend was telling me about the '90's song "The Way" by Fastball. It was actually written after reading about the missing elderly couple Raymond and Lela Howard who had similar circumstances as the Romer's. After working on this case and my next one (which has some similarities to the Romer's) reading the lyrics was chilling!

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fastball/theway.html

Hey peeps! Here is my latest article! It's a shame UM didn't cover this one as it would have been perfect imo. A bit of an exclusive in this as I talked to a relative.

https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/claude-sue-shelton-accident-or-abandoned

I have read about this case on Websleuths. I was pretty much leaning towards in the water. Now I’m not sure what I think.

Weird to say the least. Water is the 'best' explanation, but.. It doesn't really fully fit.

Only reason I say that's 'best'.. Who would abandon, purposefully, their three kids?

but, regardless, who would leave both their kids at home, with the oldest being 10, even for a short period? Where would be so important to go that both of them would need to?

That's the part that doesn't make sense to me. If it was foul play.. Say they were going for a pack of smokes.. Why have both of them go?

Weird to say the least. Water is the 'best' explanation, but.. It doesn't really fully fit.

Only reason I say that's 'best'.. Who would abandon, purposefully, their three kids?

but, regardless, who would leave both their kids at home, with the oldest being 10, even for a short period? Where would be so important to go that both of them would need to?

That's the part that doesn't make sense to me. If it was foul play.. Say they were going for a pack of smokes.. Why have both of them go?

I completely agree with everything you said. Something was clearly going on with them that night. They had a reason to leave when they did without their children.

I completely agree with everything you said. Something was clearly going on with them that night. They had a reason to leave when they did without their children.

FWIW.. May 28th seems to be the date. Looking at newspapers from that time, an article from June 7th says "10 days" and one from June 22nd specifically say the 28th

Something else from the reporting at the time is that the reason they were supposedly going to the truck stop was for "Coffee and sandwiches".. At 2am? (Also, some reports say 2:30am) but.. Huh..

Now, one point i'll weigh in on. Claude having $3k worth of tools.. When I read your write-up, it sounded like he worked at a muffler manufacturing plant.. He was a car mechanic. and.. It's in no way unusual for them to have thousands of dollars worth of tools and toolboxes that they carry from job to job with them. In fact, that is the norm. Every mechanic can reach into their toolbox and pull out and complain about a tool that was massively expensive that is required for one specific model of car.

The way you worded that the kids, Sheila specifically, said they left because they wanted to.. Seems to imply that they INTENDED to. That was their intention, abandon the kids.

But, the article I'm reading from 2009, and yes, there's a big gap there.. Sheila seems to indicate that she doesn't think that. And, a minor point, says that she overheard them leaving while she was getting ready for bed, not while she was in bed, but hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Hey peeps! Sorry I haven't been good about updating this thread. I have all my articles posted in podcast form now and have been working on all new content. I try to post the podcasts in article form to my blog as well unless I have a guest that talks with me on it. So good news is I actually have 4 new articles on my blog since I last posted on here! Some very interesting rare cases most people have never heard of. If you want to check it out here's a link to my blog:

www.lostnfoundblogs.com

CD! I love your blog and podcast. The Adam Hecht piece was so good. I really appreciated hearing from his brother, and getting a more in depth picture of Adam and his family.

Your work is awesome. Thanks for bumping this.

So.. I've been bad about keeping up with CD's blog.. I'm reading through it now and .. I like to point things out when I hit them, just because they're fresh in mind..

so.. This Paul Hibbard story.. The first thing that just jumps out at me.. "Outlaw Geological Exploration Company".. That's.. One of the oddest descriptions I've ever seen.. Do they team up with "Hell's Grannies"?

Truck full of blood.. Yep. he's dead.

Joseph Dowdy.. Great work on following up on him.. However.. I don't see him being a murderer. Look at his crimes. He's a cheat, swindler, scam artist.. But.. Nothing says murderer. So.. I don't think he killed Paul.. He might have known who did, he might have been there, he might have set Paul up.. But I don't think he 'pulled the trigger'.

I wonder if the blood was ever tested against his parents for DNA? Just to establish it was Paul's blood. There is a REMOTELY small chance that Dowdy is telling the truth or at least a partial truth.

The other concern here.. How did someone from Colorado get targeted in Wyoming? That's about 5 hours away.

Lots of vacant space up there to hide a body.

CD! I love your blog and podcast. The Adam Hecht piece was so good. I really appreciated hearing from his brother, and getting a more in depth picture of Adam and his family.

Your work is awesome. Thanks for bumping this.

Thanks so much Meg!! I'm glad you're listening to my podcast. Funny that you should mention Harold Hecht. I just texted him a few days ago. I came across this clip in the LA Times from last year where Rebecca Hecht is basically comparing her father to Jose Menendez! I texted Harold to see if he knew and sent him the link. He said he heard that she mentioned the Menendez brothers (she said Adam Hecht gave Erik Menendez tennis lessons) but if she compared their father to Jose she could not be more wrong. Here's the article - in the middle of the page there is a video and you can see Rebecca:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-29/menendez-mansion-tourists-swarm-beverly-hills

So.. I've been bad about keeping up with CD's blog.. I'm reading through it now and .. I like to point things out when I hit them, just because they're fresh in mind..

so.. This Paul Hibbard story.. The first thing that just jumps out at me.. "Outlaw Geological Exploration Company".. That's.. One of the oddest descriptions I've ever seen.. Do they team up with "Hell's Grannies"?

Truck full of blood.. Yep. he's dead.

Joseph Dowdy.. Great work on following up on him.. However.. I don't see him being a murderer. Look at his crimes. He's a cheat, swindler, scam artist.. But.. Nothing says murderer. So.. I don't think he killed Paul.. He might have known who did, he might have been there, he might have set Paul up.. But I don't think he 'pulled the trigger'.

I wonder if the blood was ever tested against his parents for DNA? Just to establish it was Paul's blood. There is a REMOTELY small chance that Dowdy is telling the truth or at least a partial truth.

The other concern here.. How did someone from Colorado get targeted in Wyoming? That's about 5 hours away.

Lots of vacant space up there to hide a body.

Yeah Labonte I kind of laughed at the thought of a "rogue geological exploration company" being out there. There's something about that case that seems off. No doubt that Dowdy was involved in some form - he was literally selling things out of Hibbard's truck. It just seemed so uncalled for and so violent to just take a few things out of the truck. Perhaps the radioactive element wasn't easy to remove. I just feel like something unexpected happen to amp up the violence. I think his body is somewhere 'in the weeds' near where the truck was left.

Yeah I also wonder how Dowdy even know about Hibbard and the truck he drove. Unless the specialized truck he drove was a big deal back then.

I thoroughly enjoy your blog. Your articles are so well researched and thought out.

I thoroughly enjoy your blog. Your articles are so well researched and thought out.

Thank you so much! :heart:

Yeah Labonte I kind of laughed at the thought of a "rogue geological exploration company" being out there. There's something about that case that seems off. No doubt that Dowdy was involved in some form - he was literally selling things out of Hibbard's truck. It just seemed so uncalled for and so violent to just take a few things out of the truck. Perhaps the radioactive element wasn't easy to remove. I just feel like something unexpected happen to amp up the violence. I think his body is somewhere 'in the weeds' near where the truck was left.

Yeah I also wonder how Dowdy even know about Hibbard and the truck he drove. Unless the specialized truck he drove was a big deal back then.

One place my mind went.. Dowdy got the equipment from the person who killed Hibbard. I just don't see him, based on the info at hand, being involved in a death that, at least seems.. Quite brutal.

I'm not saying it's impossible at all.. Just.. If he was capable of that.. It seems he'd probably have done it again. What he DID do again, was cheat, lie and steal..

Just a gut feeling that.. He might be something of a patsy, so to speak. He got the equipment from someone, he tried to sell it. He wouldn't roll on them because.. Well.. Duh.

There's no question Hibbard is dead in my mind. the question is.. Was he killed in the truck? Is that his blood? If it's NOT.. I start rethinking many things here. I fully suspect it is.. but.. I'd like to know for sure. Because it would change my thinking on this case pretty substantially if it's not.

My latest...

https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/the-cowdens-the-martins-ominous-in-oregon

https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/wendy-tricia-regina-erica-teenage-tragedy