Romance novelist and filmmaker Faleena Hopkins, who went missing for over two weeks, has been located in Kauai, Hawaii through the use of cell phone location tracking, according to the Jackson Police Department.

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.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.— Missing romance novelist and filmmaker Faleena Marie Hopkins is believed to have departed Jackson Hole for Utah in the hours after her release from Teton County Detention Center following her Jan. 27 arrest for leading authorities on a 24-miles chase through Grand Teton National Park, police said Tuesday.

Hopkins, 52, was released from custody by Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Rankin on Jan. 30. Days later, friends and family reported her missing to police. Hopkins has not been heard from since her release.

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.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—Nathan Hightman is no stranger to tragedy.

Much has been said and written about the strange and troubling disappearance of his fiancé, Irene Gakwa, from this part of coal country in Wyoming. But lost in the hue and cry is who’s at the center of the story—Hightman himself—and the little-known fact that, when he was in his early 20s, his mother was murdered at her home by her estranged ex-husband.

GILLETTE, Wyo.—Who is Nathan J. Hightman?

It’s a question that many people are asking—from Gillette to Nairobi. For the past 10 months, Hightman’s name has been splashed across headlines and his image broadcast on network news as the fiancé of Irene Gakwa, 33, the Kenyan nursing student who vanished last winter.

Ken Van Buskirk, 54, disappeared from his home on July 28, 2014. Nearly 18 months later, his body was found near a water tank in downtown Lusk, an area that had previously been searched multiple times in daylight with the help of cadaver dogs. Ken’s death remains a mystery, and his 83-year-old father, Ernie Van Buskirk, wants answers. Check out part one of this story here.

LUSK, Wyo.—By all accounts, Ken Van Buskirk was no angel. Along with an extensive rap sheet, Ken also had a drug addiction and drinking problem that had led to several arrests and DUIs, his father, Ernie, told the Wyoming Truth. Ken’s lifestyle put him in the company of other drug addicts, Ernie noted; he thinks they may have killed him.

LUSK, Wyo.—The 83-year-old father of a man whose body was found on a hilltop is seeking answers in the unsolved death of his son, as local police take a second look at the open case.

Kenneth “Ken” Van Buskirk went missing on July 28, 2014. According to family members who spoke to Ken the evening he disappeared, the 54-year-old Navy veteran reportedly sounded impaired and spoke of two men in his house who were trying to kill him.

Former residents of rehabilitation ranch for troubled teens that is facing abuse accusations have asked a Wyoming district court to stay court proceedings until an appeals court rules whether to allow their case against the facility to proceed as a class-action lawsuit.