On September 25, 2016, Laurie Margaret Thompson, 49, a woman from Dubois, Wyoming, was found dead inside her home with a single gunshot wound to the head. Investigators focused on the scene itself: a revolver believed to be involved was later discovered hidden inside the house, a detail that deepened the sense that whoever fired the fatal shot had moved through the home afterward with enough time and familiarity to conceal what mattered most.
Within days, attention narrowed to someone close to her. Authorities arrested Lance Clark of Dubois and booked him on a second-degree murder charge in connection with Thompson’s death. Reports described him as her boyfriend, and his account began the case’s first chapter: he called police the night she died and said he arrived home to find her already dead. Even as he sat in custody, he maintained he had not been at the home when she was killed.
But the case did not settle into the usual rhythm of charge, bind-over, and trial. On November 2, 2016, prosecutors dropped the second-degree murder charge and Clark was released after investigators said they could not prove he was the person who pulled the trigger, pointing to new evidence that had surfaced during the investigation. The decision did not close the door on what happened in that quiet Dubois home; officials said the investigation remained open and they had not ruled out the possibility that someone else was responsible.
