During the search for Karlie Gusé in 2018, I encountered then-Sgt. Seth Clark from the Mono County Sheriff’s Office (now Lt. Clark).
Given that Karlie hadn’t surfaced yet, two theories seemed most plausible. One was that she walked deep into the desert, hunkered down, and perished. The second theory was that Karlie got into a vehicle, either of her own will or under duress, and was transported somewhere else.
Sgt. Clark felt that the lack of leads was an important indication. “The biggest clue is that there is no clue,” he said.
The same observation remains true now, five years later. Either 16-year-old Karlie cleverly concealed herself, or someone else did so.
The latest from Mono County and the FBI is that Karlie may have been spotted in Tonopah, Nevada, sometime after she vanished from alongside Highway 6. Perhaps that’s where someone harmed the missing girl?
In July 2023, I followed Highway 6 north toward Tonopah from where Karlie disappeared, stopping along the way to take photos and conduct interviews.
Kerry Saulque, a waitress at the Benton Station café in Benton, California, said she was working there on October 13, 2018, when two people stopped in and asked if she’d seen the missing teen. Afterwards, there was no other follow-up.
“Whatever happened and whoever did it, they did a pretty good job of covering it up,” said Saulque.
At the California state agricultural station a few miles from the border with Nevada, I confirmed that there weren’t any security cameras in 2018 monitoring traffic on the northbound side of Highway 6. Statistically an abduction would be an anomaly because the vast majority of missing teen cases involve runaways. But the longer the case remains unsolved, the more likely abduction is the explanation. Here’s my most recent article about the case: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/case-of-missing-california-teen-leads-to-nevada-2917690/
