Misty Dawne Sprague was a 41-year-old woman from Montana who was last seen in Butte on December 22, 2022. Public missing-person records listed her as endangered missing and described her as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a listed weight range of 120 to 160 pounds. Distinguishing information included tattoos of a unicorn’s head, a music note, and a heart with a banner. Her case was investigated by the Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department.
The publicly available account of Misty’s disappearance said she had been staying in a hotel room in Butte and left all of her personal belongings behind there. She was not heard from again after December 22, 2022. The fact that her belongings were reportedly left behind added to the concern surrounding her disappearance, though early public summaries offered few details about what may have happened to her afterward.
Later reporting connected Misty’s case to human remains discovered in the Elk Park area north of Butte. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported that human remains were found by recreationists in a remote area outside Elk Park, in Jefferson County, on June 26, 2023. Authorities said at that time that the cause and manner of death were under investigation, with assistance from the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation.
In February 2025, Montana state investigators confirmed that the remains found near Elk Park had been identified, but officials initially declined to release the person’s name because the investigation remained open. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the case would be forwarded to the county attorney for prosecutorial review once the Division of Criminal Investigation completed its work.
A Montana Standard report from February 2025, provided as an online source, identified the case as Misty Dawne Sprague’s and reported that a death certificate had been filed after a body was found near Elk Park. Because the public information available from that reporting is limited, the exact date Misty died is not clear from the available online sources. The information is vague, but the case should now be understood as closed with Misty located deceased.
Misty’s disappearance and the later identification of remains near Elk Park reflect a deeply painful outcome for those who loved her and waited for answers. Public sources leave many questions unanswered, including the circumstances that led from her last known contact in Butte to the discovery near Elk Park, but they do show that she was eventually identified after a long period of uncertainty. Her family, friends, and community deserved clarity, compassion, and care as they faced the difficult news that she had been found deceased.Last Seen: Dec 22, 2022
