Kyle Ellis

More than seven years after a Sheridan man went missing, his remains were located west of Cody.

The Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that remains found over the summer in Park County belonged to the late Kyle Ellis.

The sheriff’s office said it appeared that Ellis — who went missing in January 2018 — likely died from exposure to the freezing temperatures. He was 29 at the time of his disappearance.

“We hope this brings closure to Kyle’s parents, his family, friends and our community,” Sheridan County Sheriff Levi Dominguez said in a statement. 

Ellis was last seen and heard from on Jan. 8, 2018, when a woman reportedly gave him a ride from a lodge in the Bighorn Mountains to Greybull.

Family members have told media outlets that Ellis, who suffered from mental health problems, sometimes took “religious journeys” that lasted for weeks, but that he always stayed in touch via Facebook. He enjoyed exploring the Bighorn Mountains and walking trails around Sheridan, his family wrote in an obituary.

“His walking journeys took him to Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and finally to Cody, [Wyoming,] where his journey ended,” they wrote.

Despite public calls for information about Ellis’ whereabouts, authorities and family members received no leads until August. That’s when a crew working to clear out vegetation on Bureau of Land Management property west of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir discovered a person’s remains, said Park County Sheriff Darrell Steward.

The location is a couple miles north of U.S. Highway 14/16/20 (the Northfork Highway) and it appears that Ellis “just wandered up in there,” Steward said.

Though it looked like Ellis had constructed a makeshift shelter, Steward said the temperatures in January 2018 were around zero degrees, which can quickly become deadly. There was no indication of foul play.

The sheriff suspected the remains might have belonged to Ellis because he was one of the only people missing in the region and the clothing found at the location appeared to be a potential match. However, it wasn’t until Thursday that the Wyoming State Crime Lab was able to conclusively determine through DNA testing that the remains belonged to Ellis.

In Friday’s statement, the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office thanked all of the agencies and individuals involved in the investigation.

Ellis’ family “has been nothing but supportive and patient throughout these years,” Sheriff Dominguez added, “and our thoughts and prayers are with them through this time.”

In the obituary, family members said that Ellis had read the Bible from cover-to-cover multiple times and had a deep faith in God.

“We find comfort knowing that Kyle is now where he wished to be — in Heaven,” they wrote.