On a Friday afternoon in October 2025, a hiker was wandering through the rugged, north side of Scotts Bluff National Monument. It’s the kind of place people go to disappear for a few hours into the scenery, but that day, the scenery gave something back. The hiker stumbled across what looked like human bones in a remote area not usually frequented by tourists. Within hours, the Gering Police Department and federal rangers had the site cordoned off.
Basically, the discovery ended a six-year mystery that had haunted the region.
The search for human remains found in Nebraska often starts exactly like this—unplanned and unsettling. For years, the face of Chance Englebert was on billboards and social media feeds across the Midwest. He was the 25-year-old Wyoming man who walked away from a family golf outing in Gering on July 6, 2019, and simply vanished. The October 2025 discovery, later confirmed through DNA testing in late November, finally gave his family an answer, though not the one they wanted.
The Long Search for Chance Englebert
Honestly, the scale of the original search for Chance was staggering. We’re talking about 17 different agencies, drones, divers in the North Platte River, and cadaver dogs. They found nothing for half a decade. Then, a random hiker in a "rugged, remote area" finds him just a few miles from where he was last seen on surveillance footage in Terrytown.
It’s a gut-punch for the family.
By November 25, 2025, DNA results from the Douglas County Coroner’s Office in Omaha confirmed the remains were indeed Chance. His mother, Dawn Englebert, has been vocal about the "accidental fall" ruling. She’s skeptical. Why would a guy from Wyoming, familiar with the outdoors, end up in such a difficult-to-reach spot at night, in the rain?
Local residents, like Kelly Mumm, who often walks the area, noted that the spot where the body was found is the "longest way" anyone would take to get to Torrington.
What was found at the scene?
- Skeletal remains (heavily weathered by six years of Nebraska winters).
- Clothing items that family members immediately recognized.
- Personal effects that had been with him since the day he walked off.
Forensic Science in the Cornhusker State
When someone finds human remains found in Nebraska, the state doesn't just guess. The process is actually pretty rigid. You’ve got experts like Dr. William Belcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). He’s a board-certified forensic anthropologist who runs the UNL Forensic Anthropology Research Laboratory.
People like him are the ones who look at "taphonomy"—basically the study of how a body decays in a specific environment. Nebraska’s weather is brutal. You have extreme heat in the summer and deep-freeze cycles in the winter. This shifts the ground and can scatter remains, making it incredibly hard for investigators to reconstruct a timeline.
In Chance’s case, the advanced decomposition and the "time elapsed" meant that while they could confirm it was him, pinpointing the exact moment of death is more about a best-guess based on environmental evidence.
The Legal Side: What Happens if You Find Something?
If you’re out hiking and see something that looks like a human bone, you’ve got 48 hours to report it. That’s Nebraska law (Statute 12-1205). If you don't? You’re looking at a Class III misdemeanor. If you decide to keep a "souvenir" or move the remains, it jumps to a Class IV felony.
Nebraska is unique because it’s a crossroads of indigenous history. The State Archaeology Office (SAO) gets involved almost immediately if the remains don't look like a recent crime scene.
The Genoa Indian Boarding School Dig
Not all remains found are linked to modern missing persons. In July 2023, and again in more recent efforts, archaeologists have been searching the site of the Genoa Indian Boarding School. It was the fourth-largest of its kind in the country.
Records suggest nearly 100 Native American children died there between 1884 and 1934. The state has been using ground-penetrating radar to find "anomalies." So far, the physical remains have been elusive, but the search remains a massive point of tension and healing for the 40 different tribes whose children were sent there.
Why These Cases Stay "Cold" for So Long
Nebraska is vast.
The terrain around Scotts Bluff or the Sandhills isn't just "flat land." It’s full of canyons, thick brush, and shifting riverbeds.
A body can be 10 feet off a trail and stay hidden for decades.
Take the case of Michael Shawn Garcia, whose remains were identified in early 2026. While he was found across the border in Washington, the parallels to Nebraska cold cases are striking—remains found by a dog walker nearly a decade after a "suspicious" disappearance.
In Nebraska, the "suspicious" label is hard to shake. When Chance Englebert's remains were found, a volunteer private investigator named Ryan Couch mentioned "new credible witnesses" who saw two women screaming for help and a white truck near the "area of incident" back in 2019. This kind of information often only surfaces once a body is found and the public starts talking again.
Actionable Steps for Nebraskans
If you find yourself in a situation where you believe you've encountered human remains, the "what next" is critical for the integrity of the investigation.
- Stop Moving. Do not "explore" the area further. You might be stepping on evidence like shell casings, fibers, or small bone fragments.
- GPS and Photo. Take a photo from a distance and mark the GPS coordinates on your phone. Do not touch the remains to get a "better shot."
- Call the County Attorney or Sheriff. In Nebraska, these are the first points of contact.
- Stay Silent on Social Media. Posting a photo of a discovery before the police can secure the site can compromise an entire investigation—and it’s incredibly traumatizing for families who might be looking for a missing loved one.
The discovery of Chance Englebert’s remains in late 2025 proved that no matter how much time passes, the land eventually gives up its secrets. Whether it's a cold case from 2019 or an ancestral burial site from 200 years ago, these finds require a mix of high-tech DNA science and old-school police work to bring any semblance of closure.