In the spring of 2017, Nadja Medley, a 48-year-old Caucasian female, was filled with optimism for the future. After the hardship of losing her husband a few years prior, she had found happiness with a man named Gerald “Mike” Bullinger. Believing he was divorced, Nadja and her 14-year-old daughter, Payton, moved with Bullinger from Utah to a recently purchased farmhouse on a quiet road in Caldwell, Idaho, looking forward to a fresh start.
Her social media from that time painted a picture of a happy family, with photos of her and Payton smiling alongside Bullinger.
The dream of a happy new life unraveled into a nightmare on June 19, 2017. A sheriff's deputy, responding to a welfare check at the rural property, discovered a horrific scene. Inside a shed lay the bodies of three females, partially covered and in a state of decomposition. Due to the condition of the remains, identification was a slow process. One victim was identified through dental records as 56-year-old Cheryl Baker. It wasn't until early August that DNA testing confirmed the other two victims were Nadja and her daughter, Payton. The coroner determined that each of the three victims had been killed by a single gunshot wound and had likely been deceased for one to two weeks before being found.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on one suspect: 60-year-old Mike Bullinger, the man who had brought the Medleys to Idaho. Authorities soon uncovered a shocking double life; Bullinger was not divorced but was, in fact, married to the third victim, Cheryl Baker. Investigators believe that Baker, a recently retired teacher from Utah, may have discovered Bullinger's relationship with Nadja, leading to a fatal confrontation. It appeared that Bullinger had purchased the Caldwell property with his wife, even as he was moving his girlfriend and her daughter into the home.
Immediately following the discovery, a nationwide manhunt was launched for Bullinger, who was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He was considered armed and dangerous. The last confirmed sighting of him was in Ogden, Utah, around the time the murders were believed to have occurred. In July 2017, Bullinger's car was found abandoned at a remote campground in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest, but there was no sign of him. Despite an extensive search and hundreds of tips over the years, Gerald Michael Bullinger has never been located. Investigators have considered the possibility that he may have died in the wilderness, but without a body, the case remains officially unresolved, leaving the families of Nadja Medley, Payton Medley, and Cheryl Baker without final answers.
