Who killed Tonya? On August 15, 1997, the naked body of 18-year-old Caucasian female Tonya K. Teske was discovered by a truck driver and his wife on a grassy slope off U.S. Highway 20 near Ucon, Idaho. Originally from Shoshoni, Wyoming, Teske had a troubled life, dropping out of high school in 1995 and subsequently hitchhiking across the Mountain West region, including Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. She had become estranged from her family, with her last contact being in January 1997.
Shortly before her death, in April 1997, she was arrested for forging a check in Utah.
The last known sighting of Teske was on August 13, 1997, at the Cinnamon Lodge truck stop in Gallatin County, Montana. She was reportedly carrying a large green suitcase and a brown shoulder bag. While there, she was questioned by law enforcement for allegedly soliciting sex over a CB radio, which she claimed was a joke. Officers were aware of an outstanding forgery warrant for her in Utah but chose not to extradite her. Two days later, her body was found in Idaho. It took investigators ten days to identify her, as no one had reported her missing.
Although there were no obvious signs of foul play such as wounds or strangulation, and toxicology reports were inconclusive, investigators treated her death as a potential homicide due to the circumstances in which her body was found. There was evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. Since October 1997, law enforcement has considered an unidentified truck driver from Idaho a person of interest after evidence discovered in Island Park seemed to connect him to Teske. However, no arrests have ever been made in connection with her death. Theories about her death range from an accidental overdose or medical issue to being the victim of a serial killer, given that several were active in the region at the time. The prevailing theory remains that a truck driver was involved, given her lifestyle of hitchhiking.
