Update: The Utah woman Wyoming authorities spent Monday searching for after she was reported missing has been found safe in southern Utah.
Uinta County Law Enforcement Services posted an update on Facebook that Leakae Roberts, was found early Tuesday. “She was located alive and well in southern Utah by Law Enforcement Officials. She is being re-united with family members at this time.”
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Police officers and hunters scoured backcountry areas of southwestern Wyoming on Monday — the first day of deer season — searching for a Utah woman who was reported missing over the weekend during a trip to visit her sister in Evanston.
But no one came across any sign of 42-year-old Leakae Roberts, an executive assistant at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine, who was last seen in the small town near the Utah-Wyoming border Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
“We haven’t turned up anything,” said Evanston police Lt. Ken Pearson. “It’s just one of those weird things. We don't know where she took off to. We don't have a direction or any place to go look."
Roberts, who lives in Morgan, was staying at her sister’s home over the weekend. Her sister left to run some errands Saturday evening, telling Roberts to order a pizza with some money she left on the counter. When she got back no more than 45 minutes later, Pearson said, Roberts was gone and had left two of her kids, ages 7 and 12, there.
Pearson said there were no signs of foul play, and it appears Pearson left without any kind of struggle in her black Toyota Camry. Police are asking people to watch for the car, a 2017 model with the Utah license plate F058BN, and to call their local law enforcement agency if they spot it.
Roberts’ sister called police at 11 a.m. Sunday when Roberts had not returned. Pearson said she did not tell her kids anything about where she might be going and left them with her cellphone.
"She doesn't have any modern electronics with her” that police could track, Pearson added. "We're kind of at a loss. … According to her sister, this is out of the norm for her."
Roberts sent an email to her boss at the U. on Friday saying she would be taking Monday off. Her employer has not heard anything more from her, and university police spent Monday interviewing her coworkers for potential insights into her disappearance.
Roberts’ 17-year-old son, who skipped the family trip to Wyoming and stayed in Morgan, told police he hadn’t seen his mom since Wednesday. She got to Wyoming on Saturday morning, but he said their schedules didn’t align much last week. Roberts' ex-husband, who lives in Wyoming, picked up the two younger kids after the missing report was filed, Pearson said.
A member of Roberts’ church volunteered to drive his airplane over the area as part of the search. He reported to police that he saw no trace of her or her car.
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