After a Strange Encounter, Bo Galloway Vanished — His Family Wants Answers

The original story by Marni Hughes, Cathleen O’Toole for NewsNation.

In a small town tucked against the Bighorns, James “Bo” Galloway went from calling his teenage daughter nearly every day to disappearing without a trace. The 53-year-old Wyoming native was the kind of dad who taught his kids to love the outdoors and sometimes tromped through the woods in a ghillie suit just for laughs. He raised a daughter and a stepdaughter, stayed close with his ex-wife, and, despite battles with addiction, kept showing up for his family.

Then, in May, everything tilted. His daughter Madelyn says their daily chats turned into jittery, out-of-character conversations. His ex-wife, Jaime Banks, noticed the shift too. He called asking for help, which he almost never did, and when she picked him up he was scared in a way she’d never seen. He couldn’t quite explain the fear, only that it felt urgent and real.

Days later, after one last brief visit with Madelyn, Bo was gone. The Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office opened a case and soon tied a report of a trespasser at the county airport to someone who looked like him. Meanwhile, search teams led by Stacy Koester of Wyo-find combed the area by air, on foot, and in the water. Koester said a short disappearance wouldn’t be unusual, but being missing this long didn’t add up.

Friends led searchers to photos from the place Bo rented, and that’s where things got stranger. The walls were covered in drawings and words, artwork layered over almost every surface. To outsiders it felt chaotic; to Madelyn it looked like comfort, the kind of doodling her dad always did when his mind was busy. There was also a ghillie suit — identical to the kind Bo liked to wear — sitting with a friend who admitted he’d taken it after Bo was reported missing.

Back at the house, Bo’s dogs were still there. His family says he never would have left them behind, just like he wouldn’t have walked away from his daughters and granddaughters. Banks calls him her best friend and says whatever demons he faced, he was loved and his life mattered. The sheriff’s office declined an interview and pointed to a June 9 Facebook post, leaving the family to keep pushing for attention and hoping the next tip is the one that brings him home.