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Reports suggest a body discovered in Nebraska on Saturday could belong to a Wyoming man who vanished over six years ago.
According to the Cowboy State Daily, Chance Englebert disappeared at the age of 25 while visiting family in Gering, Nebraska, in July 2019.
The Gering Police Department contacted Englebert’s mother, informing her that the body recently found might be linked to her son’s case, as shared with the Wyoming-based news outlet.
On Saturday, Dawn Englebert shared an update on the “Help Find Chance Englebert” Facebook page:
“We ask the entire ‘Chance’s Army’ community for your patience and respect during this time,” Dawn wrote. “Please allow law enforcement to conduct their thorough investigation. Our family is waiting for official confirmation and further information from the authorities.”
According to the Gering police, Englebert was golfing with his wife’s family on July 6 and got upset over comments made about how he’d be making less money at his new job.
According to his wife, Englebert called her on the phone, saying he wanted to leave Gering and wanted to go back home to Wyoming. She picked him up and drove them to her grandparents’ house in Gering. And that, she said, made Englebert more upset. He got out of the car and started walking away.
Surveillance footage obtained by shows Englebert walking through Gering around 7:50 p.m. the night he left his wife in the car.
In the video, Englebert can be seen looking at his phone and then taking a 90-degree turn to the left, as if following a map.
“I see a kid that had a mission, and he knew he wanted out of town,” his mother said of seeing him walking during that last snippet of video.
An hour after the time of the surveillance footage, a powerful storm with lightning and high winds passed through Gering and neighboring towns.
At 9:08 p.m., a text was sent from Englebert’s phone during the storm to his Aunt Katy with a grumpy face emoji and a confusing mix of letters.
After that text, according to the local sheriff, Englebert’s phone went dark.
“Nothing on his phone after 9 or 8, nothing,” Englebert’s mother said.
His wife called the police the next morning to file a missing person report.
‘s Tom Palmer contributed to this report.