In the late summer of 1997, the life of 18-year-old Tonya Kay Teske, a female from the small town of Shoshoni, Wyoming, came to a tragic and mysterious end. On August 15, 1997, her naked body was discovered by a truck driver and his wife on a grassy ramp off U.S. Highway 20 near Ucon, Idaho. Tonya's life had been a difficult one; she had dropped out of high school and had been hitchhiking across the Mountain West.
The last confirmed sighting of her was just two days before her body was found, on the night of August 13 at a truck stop in Gallatin County, Montana.
Upon the discovery of the unidentified young woman, law enforcement began an investigation. For ten days, she was a Jane Doe until a sketch circulated at truck stops led to her identification. An autopsy revealed no obvious wounds, and toxicology reports were inconclusive, leaving her exact cause of death undetermined. However, investigators found evidence of sexual assault and believe she was the victim of a homicide based on the circumstances in which her body was found. The lack of a clear cause of death has complicated the investigation from the beginning.
Despite the passage of time, no arrests have ever been made in connection with Tonya's death. Early in the investigation, in October 1997, law enforcement identified a potential suspect: an unnamed truck driver based in Idaho. This lead came after evidence possibly linking him to Teske was found in Island Park. However, his identity was never publicly released, and it did not lead to an arrest. The case has grown cold, leaving behind a number of theories. The most prevalent theory is that she was killed by a truck driver, given her high-risk lifestyle of hitchhiking. Other possibilities that have been considered include her being a victim of a serial killer active in the region at the time, or that her death was accidental, perhaps from a drug overdose or an unknown medical issue, and the person she was with disposed of her body in a panic.
