After her in-town activities, Bechtel is believed to have traveled through Sinks Canyon State Park to the Loop Road, a roadway that traverses the Wind River Range to South Pass.

The day Bechtel disappeared, her husband, Steve, traveled with a friend to Dubois, Wyoming, to scout rock climbing routes.

[8] Shortly thereafter, Steve contacted the Fremont County sheriff's department while friends began searching Lander for Bechtel's vehicle.

At about 1 a.m. on July 25, 1997, searchers located Bechtel's vehicle, a white Toyota Tercel, at Burnt Gulch, an area along the Loop Road.

[10] By July 27, police were receiving roughly 1,000 calls per day with tips and potential leads in Bechtel's disappearance; additionally, various lakes and mines were searched with no results.

[11] Investigators initially believed Bechtel to have fallen victim to the elements or potentially been attacked by a bear or mountain lion; however, they later suspected Steve after uncovering a series of his journals describing violence toward women and, specifically, his wife.

[12] In 1998, local police stated that Bechtel was not a central suspect in the case but that they had wanted to clear him of suspicion to follow other leads, which they could not do after his lack of cooperation.

[14] Steve provided an alibi for the time of Bechtel's disappearance, which was corroborated by friends who agreed they had spent the afternoon with him rock climbing.

[18] In June 2003, a Timex Iron Man digital watch was discovered by a doctor hiking near the Popo Agie River and was turned in to the police.