The vehicle of a missing Idaho woman found dead Tuesday appears to have vaulted off a nearly 60-foot cliff before submerging in a river, according to a preliminary report from the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
The body of Laura Lane, 54, was found July 7 after her red Dodge Dart was pulled from the Buffalo Fork River near Moran, Wyoming, in Grand Teton National Park.
The vehicle floated in heavy spring runoff before submerging under water about a quarter mile downstream, WHP reports.
The vehicle was located by aerial drone Sunday after fisherman in the area found Lane’s wallet near the area where her car left the road, prompting a search by law enforcement and park rangers.
The preliminary report suggests that Lane, who was traveling westbound on U.S. Highway 26 and not wearing a seat belt, drifted across the eastbound lane and off the south shoulder before landing in the water.
WHP is still investigating the potential cause of the crash, said Arron Healy, public information officer for the agency’s District 3.
As of Thursday, Lane’s cause and manner of death are still pending, according to Teton County Coroner Brent Blue.
Trail Goes Dark
Lane, 54, had been missing for more than a month. She disappeared June 2 while making the roughly 12-hour drive home from Buffalo, Wyoming, to Nampa, Idaho, when her digital trail ended near Moran Junction in Teton County.
Prior to leaving Buffalo, where she had been living and working for about three weeks, Lane had shared her Google password with her best friend, Angelina Ramirez, who was able to access her account and track her journey home via Google maps.
Lane last used her cash app to fill her gas tank in Buffalo, texting Ramirez to say that she thought she’d be home by 8 or 9 that night.
Ramirez later tracked Lane stopping at the Fast Lane gas station in Shoshoni at 10:19 a.m., and again in Moran Junction in Teton County approximately two hours later. Then nothing.
The next morning, Ramirez attempted to contract Lane to see if she’d arrived home, but she didn’t answer her phone and her trail still showed she was in that same spot in Moran Junction.
Ramirez immediately called police in Idaho and Wyoming and contacted Lane’s family.
Her daughter, Jen Lane, and sister, Grace Lane, immediately knew that something was wrong when she didn’t respond to their repeated calls and texts because it wasn’t like her to go off the grid and not communicate with friends and family for any reason, especially while traveling.
Family Mourning
Jen takes solace that she was told her mother died instantly and that there was no pain or struggle.
Grace, who had been serving as a family liaison with law enforcement, described her sister’s death simply as a, “Sad day in the neighborhood.”
In an earlier interview, she described the stress and worry of trying to find answers into what happened to her sister over the past several weeks.
Ramirez, likewise, was taking the loss hard, saying how much she loved Lane and appreciated her true and loyal friendship.
“She was strong and fierce,” Jen said. “This isn’t the outcome we wanted in any way, but we are grateful to have answers.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
