Stefanie Kelly Stroh

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Federal Bureau Of Investigation (DC)

Missing From:

Wells, Nevada

Summary:

Stefanie Kelly Stroh was last seen on October 15, 1987 at the Four Way Cafe and Truck Stop in Wells, Nevada, where she called her parents and said she had a ride and would be home the next day. The convicted murderer Tommy Lynn Sells confessed to Stroh's murder, saying he picked her up while she was hitchhiking across the country and offered her a ride to Reno, Nevada, but they took LSD together, then he strangled her, covered her body in concrete, and dumped it in a hot spring. However, Sells was never charged in connection with Stroh's case and police believe his claims about his criminal activities are exaggerated. Stroh's case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Stroh was a student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon at the time of her disappearance. She had taken the year off to travel and spent nine months in Asia, then began hitchhiking across the United States. She had started in New York and was on her way back to California when she vanished. She and her boyfriend, Art Torrance, hitchhiked from New York to Utah. They decided to split up in Salt Lake City. He returned to Oregon while she continued heading toward San Francisco, California, where her parents lived. Stroh was last seen when she called her parents at the Four Way Cafe and Truck Stop in Wells, Nevada on October 15, 1987 at 10:15am. She said she was coming home that night, was hitchhiking and had a ride. Later that day, Stefanie was seen by a desk clerk at the Motel 6 in Winnemucca, Nevada. She tried to get a room, but there was no vacancy. The clerk then tried to help her reserve a room at a motel in Reno. She was carrying a light gray canvas suitcase, a pink purse and an orange sleeping bag at the time of her disappearance.

Additional Details:

In October 1987, convicted serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells drifted through Nevada and worked briefly for a roofing company in the mining town of Winnemucca. There, he met Stefanie Stroh, who was hitchhiking across the country. In his confession, Sells said he offered her a ride to Reno, but along the way they pulled off the road to drop acid together. Sells choked the girl to death. Then, noticing a washtub and a bag of cement mix in the bed of the stolen truck he was driving, he anchored the girl's feet in the tub, waited overnight for the concrete to harden, and dumped her body into a nearby hot spring the next morning. However, Sells was never charged in connection with Stroh's case and police believe his claims about his criminal activities are exaggerated. He was executed in 2014 for the murder of a Texas girl. This case first aired as a part of a Missing Persons Special Alert on the October 25, 1989 episode along with those of Julie Weflen, Kyle Clinkscales, Carlos Alvarez, Diana Braungardt, David Tyll and Brian Ognjan, John Simmons, Lily Mae Huff, David Thies, and Susan Cappel. In November 1998, police received a tip from a man who claimed that Stefanie's body was thrown down a mine shaft near Battle Mountain, Nevada. The location is between Wells and Winnemucca. The man allegedly confessed to her murder but later recanted. The FBI and local investigators searched several mine shafts, however, no trace of her was found. It is not known if the man is still considered a suspect in this case. In 2010, investigators looked into the possibility that Dale Wayne Eaton was responsible for Stefanie's disappearance.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 29, 2026