Casper police are asking for the public’s help locating Kandice Gunter, 30, a mother of two who has not been seen since Wednesday morning and failed to pick up her children from the Boys & Girls Club that day.
Gunter had moved to Casper from Nevada about a month ago to be closer to her kids, ages 9 and 6, who live with their father in the city. She had been staying in his household and helping care for the children while the two are no longer together.
She was reported missing to the Casper Police Department Wednesday evening after she did not show up to collect her children from the after-school club. Investigators say she was last seen that morning in Natrona County.
Her last known cellphone location was along Highway 387 near the Natrona County line around 12:30 p.m. Friday. Family members said her phone also pinged in the Gillette area around noon Wednesday, roughly two hours after she last spoke with her sister.
Gunter was last known to be traveling in a gray 2016 GMC Canyon pickup with a Wyoming temporary registration.
Sister raises alarm
Gunter’s sister, Kayla Gunter, who lives about 930 miles away in Dayton, Nev., filed the missing-person report. The two sisters are close and typically talk by phone at least three times a day. They last spoke at 10:41 a.m. Wednesday, and Kayla said nothing in that conversation suggested anything was wrong. Kandice did not answer calls afterward.
“That’s why I started freaking out. It’s totally out of character for her not to show up to get her kids,” Kayla told Cowboy State Daily.
Kayla said the move to Wyoming had appeared to be going well and that her sister had given no sign she planned to leave or cut off contact. Because Gunter was still relatively new to the area, she had not yet built a large circle of friends there.
In the days before she vanished, Gunter posted a cryptic message on Facebook: “Success for me, happens in silence.” In June, she had also written about “focusing on a better me. Again,” alongside a heart-mending emoji.
On Saturday, Kayla posted an emotional plea online: “Lord please just give me a sign my sister is alive. Please.” A friend also wrote, “I looked so hard but there’s so much wide open spaces with one set of sad eyes hope you’re okay!! 14 years you’ve been in my life and can’t end it like this Kandice Gunter.”
Description
Gunter is described as 5-foot-7 and about 185 pounds, with black hair and blue eyes. She has a butterfly tattoo on her neck, a memorial tattoo on the side of her neck dedicated to her mother, and additional tattoos on her arms, hands, legs and feet.
Anyone with information on Gunter’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Casper Police Department.
