GILLETTE, Wyo.–The makeshift memorial caught Stacy Koester’s eye. She put on the brakes and inched her black Audi sports car backward along the gravel road to get a better look. A small wooden cross, adorned by a pink plastic carnation, was surrounded by a circle of rocks among craggy shrubs and cheat grass on the side of the hill at LAK Reservoir, outside Newcastle in Weston County.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—It’s been 14 months since Irene Gakwa vanished without a trace. The only “person of interest” in her mysterious disappearance, as identified by police, is sitting in the general population at the Campbell County Detention Center and awaiting sentencing in June after admitting to stealing nearly $6,000 from Gakwa and deleting her email account after she went missing.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—The sentencing date for the fiancé of Irene Gakwa, the missing Kenyan nursing student, has been set for June 14.

GILLETTE, Wyo.–A year ago, Stacy Koester never expected a Facebook post would change her life. The 39-year-old wife and mother of three teenage daughters already had her hands full with her family and job as an office manager at a local tire company.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—The fiancé of a missing Kenyan woman pleaded guilty to three of the five felonies related to crimes against her in Campbell County District Court before District Judge James Michael Causey on Tuesday afternoon. As a result, Nathan Hightman’s bond was revoked, and he was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—The fiancé of the missing Kenyan nursing student will change his plea in the felony charges related to his alleged financial crimes in the wake of her 2022 disappearance.

Nathan Hightman, 39, was charged for five felony crimes related to Irene Gakwa, 33, who has been missing since late February 2022.

The brother of a missing Kenyan nursing student marked the one-year anniversary of his sister’s disappearance with a trip to Cheyenne Friday. Kennedy Wainaina flew in from Boise, Idaho to hand deliver a petition to Gov. Mark Gordon, imploring him for help in seeking answers to her whereabouts.

Irene Gakwa, 33, was last seen on a video call with her parents in Kenya on Feb. 24, 2022 and was later reported missing by family on March 20. Gakwa moved to Gillette in July 2021 with her fiancé Nathan Hightman after meeting him on a Craigslist forum in Meridian, Idaho. She’d moved from Kenya in 2019 to be closer to her two older brothers.

GILLETTE, Wyo.— Hands on Pottery owner Michele Thara created the mug design especially for Irene Gakwa. Standing before the front window of her ceramic studio Monday afternoon, as snow fell behind her, Thara pointed out the rainbow and heart, painted blue in Gakwa’s favorite color.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—Another tip has come in. Stacy Koester headed east on Interstate 90 Saturday morning to investigate a 55-gallon barrel that was spotted on ranchland in eastern Campbell County.

Over the past eight months, Koester has logged hundreds of miles in her 2019 Audi A6, scouring the countryside for any trace of 33-year-old Irene Gakwa.

A reporter and citizen investigator will be interviewed in Gillette this week for a web series that covers missing persons.

Newly obtained records deepen the mystery of the missing Kenyan who lived in Gillette: Before moving to Wyoming, Nathan Hightman reported to police that his fiancé, Irene Gakwa, used his credit card without permission to purchase a plane ticket to Nairobi.

They called each other “twinnie” and checked in every day. Susan Minkovsky has known Irene Gakwa since they roomed together at the Karoti Girls High School outside Nairobi, Kenya. When Minkovsky moved to the United States to attend college in Alabama, their friendship didn’t wane.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—After multiple delays, legal proceedings against the fiancé of the missing Kenyan nursing student are moving forward with a trial date this spring.

Francis Kambo has his memories. His eyes grew wide, as he strolled across the golden grass on his three-acre property in the Rift Valley in Kenya where his daughter, Irene Gakwa, lived until she was 29.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—In the latest twist in the Irene Gakwa case, court records show 33 witnesses will appear in the upcoming trial of Nathan Hightman, including the owner of a house in San Antonio where public records indicate Gakwa may have lived.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—In the latest wrinkle in the high-profile Irene Gakwa case, prosecutors and the defense for the missing woman’s fiancé have requested a longer trial and potentially a change of venue due to concerns that the defendant would not receive a fair trial in Gillette.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—In the deepening mystery of the disappearance of Irene Gakwa, new information has emerged indicating that the Kenyan who lived in Gillette may have recently moved to San Antonio, Texas, according to a search of public records by the Wyoming Truth.

A stash of text messages obtained by the Wyoming Truth sheds light on the deepening and complex relationship between a missing Kenyan woman and her fiancé even as her oldest brother cautioned them to “take things slow” in their budding relationship.

Nearly 10 months after Irene Gakwa disappeared from her Gillette home, her family still has more questions than answers as they attempt to piece together the mystery of what happened to her.

GILLETTE, Wyo. – The blinds are drawn in the windows of the pale blue ranch house in northern Campbell County where Irene Gakwa once lived. The 33-year-old Kenyan moved to this single-story house in July 2021 with her fiancé, Nathan Hightman. She has since disappeared. Nobody has seen or heard from Gakwa since her last video call with her parents in late February.