Teresa Lynn Gibson

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

National Park Service Investigative Services Branch (DC)

Missing From:

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Summary:

Teresa "Trenny" Lynn Gibson, a 16-year-old, disappeared on October 8, 1976, while on a Bearden High School field trip with around 40 students to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Gibson was first known to be missing at 3:30 p.m. when the group returned to the bus. Search efforts to find Gibson included helicopters and dog teams, but she was never found.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On October 8, 1976, Trenny and her classmates had a scheduled field trip for their ornamental horticulture class taught by Wayne Dunlap. Gibson was last seen by a few others in the group around 2:50 p.m. as they were about half-a-mile away from the parking area. One member of the group said they stopped to rest, but "Trenny went on, seemed to be in a hurry to get back." Another person in the group thought she "may have tried to go cross-country to [the] Dome parking area." When she was last seen, Gibson was about 5'3" tall and weighed around 115 pounds with light brown hair. She was wearing a brown plaid jacket, a blue-and-white striped sweater, blue jeans, and blue Adidas shoes. Some reports also say that she may have been wearing a star sapphire and diamond ring.

Additional Details:

That first search effort stretched from the day Trenny disappeared through October 18, 1976. Teams of volunteers, law enforcement personnel, and park staff combed the rugged terrain, and tracking dogs were deployed in an attempt to follow her scent. A total of 756 people had searched for Trenny. Records state that the dogs picked up Gibson's scent on Andrew's Bald Trail and followed it toward Forney Creek Trail. One dog picked up Gibson's scent at the Appalachian Trail near Clingmans Dome Tower and followed it for approximately a mile and a half, but lost the scent at the Clingmans Dome Road. The search dogs also located Gibson's scent along the Appalachian Trail from the tower to Collins Gap. A second search started the following year on April 18, 1977, which continued through May 5, 1977. Multiple law enforcement agencies have contacted the National Park Service since 1991 in regards to unidentified remains cases that could potentially match Gibson's description. Specifically, the records list at least six different occasions spanning from July 11, 1991 and January 8, 1994. The FBI started an investigation on October 12, 1976, but their case file was never released. A recently-opened can of beer and three cigarette butts were found on the trail near where Trenny was last seen. Tracking dogs were immediately brought in to aid in the search. They picked up Trenny's scent and followed it 1.6 miles from the Clingmans Dome parking area to a highway roadside. The search for her would be extensive and many odd details would be discovered during the course of the investigation into her disappearance, including a scent trail which led to a nearby road, suggesting that Trenny had likely left the park in a vehicle.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 11, 2026