Terry J. Meador, 74 at the time of his disappearance, was a longtime Rock Springs, Wyoming resident who had lived in the city for 48 years. On October 19, 2018, Meador left home alone to scout for deer in the Pine Mountain area of Sweetwater County, roughly 40 miles south of Rock Springs; he was last heard from by phone on October 20, 2018. When he failed to return, friends began searching the area he was known to frequent, and his son, BJ Meador, filed a missing person report with the Rock Springs Police Department on October 26, 2018. A hunter later told investigators he had seen Meador's pickup abandoned along an access road on approximately October 20 but had not reported it at the time. Searchers located the vehicle, a blue 2013 Chevrolet pickup, stuck in a rut roughly 2.75 miles north of the summit of Pine Mountain; Meador's rifle, binoculars, hunting license, and a small cooler with food and drinks were still inside, the driver's window was rolled down, and a mud-covered shovel in the truck bed indicated a failed attempt to dig the vehicle free. Boot tracks led about a mile west from the truck along an access road before disappearing. A partially smoked cigarette matching Meador's usual brand was found roughly 200 yards west of the truck, and a glove of unknown origin recovered nearby was sent for DNA testing with inconclusive results. Meador was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, approximately 180 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes, and may have been wearing an orange coat and carrying a rifle.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office led the investigation, with the Rock Springs Police Department, Sweetwater County Search and Rescue, and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation assisting. Ground, all-terrain-vehicle, canine, and aerial searches — including one involving more than 150 volunteers on November 3, 2018, with helicopter support from University of Utah AirMed — covered more than 60 square miles around Pine Mountain without locating Meador; the Sheriff's Office suspended active search-and-recovery operations in mid-November 2018 due to low temperatures and adverse weather. Investigators looked into a pizza order placed in Meador's name to a family friend, later traced to a prank by local schoolgirls, and a call placed from Meador's phone to a local hotel that may have been a misdial; neither produced further leads. Meador managed bipolar disorder with medication and had a prior two-day disappearance and psychiatric hospitalization in 2015 following a lapse in medication; family members reported he was taking his medication as prescribed and showed no signs of crisis before this disappearance. No cellphone or financial activity connected to Meador has been reported since. His case remains open and unsolved. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office at (307) 922-5300 (case #S18-18536 / #R18-32089), the Rock Springs Police Department at (307) 352-1575, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation at (307) 777-7181, or the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System toll-free hotline at (833) 872-5176 (NamUs case #MP53670).
