BOISE, Idaho — It had been 73 days since the last clue into the disappearance of a Boise woman who went missing after setting out for a solo road trip to California. Gwen Brunelle went missing on June 26. Police suspended their search for her on July 10; and exactly two months later, a new clue emerged - reigniting hope and a motive to resume the search for Brunelle.
On Sept. 10, a T-shirt belonging to Gwen Brunelle was found tangled in a barbed wire fence roughly 1.5 miles away from her abandoned vehicle - which investigators had located on June 30, four days after her disappearance. The car was found deserted at Succor Creek Road in Malheur County, Oregon, just half a mile off of the highway.
Dozens of Gwen's family and friends searched the surrounding area of Succor Creek, both on foot and by all-terrain vehicles. Horseback riders explored areas to the north, ATVs searched trails east of the highway and two miles south of Gwen's car - where her shirt was found at Dog Creek, according to an update her family provided on a website created to find Gwen.
Four trained dogs and their handlers also assisted in the search. The family gave courtesy to Mountain States Detection Dogs in the update.
The website stated that the newfound clue encouraged leadership of Malheur County Search and Rescue to resume search efforts. An organized search is presumably scheduled for this weekend.
The last known contact anyone had with Gwendolyn Margaret Brunelle, 27, was at around noon on Tuesday, June 27, when she was spotted at the Sinclair Station in Jordan Valley, Oregon. She was traveling in a gray 2008 Honda Element with Idaho license plate 5WT6X. Her family said she left Boise on Monday, June 26.
Several rescue crews, including Malheur County Search and Rescue, Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, the Ontario Fire Department, and volunteers searched for Brunelle on foot, on horseback, and by using drones, dogs and UTVs.
Brunelle is 5 feet 7 inches tall and about 140 pounds, with brown eyes and medium brown hair.
"She may have wandered from the car or was abducted," according to a flyer her family and friends have been sharing. "She may present as disoriented."
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Gwen Brunelle is asked to call Boise Police at 208-377-6790 or the Malheur County Sheriff's Office at 541-473-5125.
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