*Photo: Help Find Chance Englebert Facebook*

The story I am sharing today was sent to us quite a while ago and I am so glad to finally be sharing it. It is one you may have heard about and has us navigating advocacy in Gering, Nebraska. Gering is a city with a population just over 8,500 and sits on the Oregon Trail. It has a stunning skyline of the Wildcat Hills as it’s backdrop and is just 20 miles from the Wyoming border and 60 miles north of the Colorado border. Neighborhood scout rates Gering a 38 on their total Crime Index. Their violent crime rates are 66% less than national averages and your chance of becoming a victim is 1 in 771. Given the size of the town, it seems fairly safe, but we have learned our lesson before that that is not always the case.

I know I gave you the crime statistics of Gering just now but this story involves a few different towns. This is one of those places where all of these tiny towns connect. Within a 3 mile radius you could walk to 3 different towns.

Approximately 2 and a half hours north of Gering sits Edgemont, South Dakota. This is where on December 2, 1993, Chance Leslie Englebert was born. He spent his formative years on his family's ranch in nearby Burdock, South Dakota. Burdock is extremely rural. In fact, so rural that wikipedia calls it an uninhabited ghost town. Chance grew up on this ranch with his parents and two brothers. His mother, Dawn, described him as a shy but hard working guy.

She also said he was a cowboy at heart but knowing that in high school Chance participated in rodeo competitions, I would argue that he was a cowboy through and through.

His exceptional talent in rodeo earned him a bull riding scholarship to Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he further honed his skills and gained a reputation as a champion rider.

While enrolled at college, Chance not only excelled in rodeo but also in his academics, obtaining a degree in welding and diesel mechanics.

After graduation, Chance, then 24 met his future wife, 19 year old Baylee, online. The two fell in love fast and were married in October 2018 and had their first and only son in May of 2019. Chance was extremely responsible and would do anything for his family.

There were some tensions early on in Chance and Baylee’s marriage as there were some disagreements between the two families. Chance’s best friend, Matt, said in an interview that even at their wedding Chance and Baylee got into a fight over Chance’s family being present.

Chance was a devoted parent and wanted to take care of his newborn son and wife. The couple purchased a home in Moorcroft, Wyoming, after Chance landed a job at a coal mine with Matt as a welder. Chance even purchased a new truck. Baylee was planning to join a nursing program at the nearby college later in the year and for the time being she was a stay at home mom.

The coal mine position was paying Chance enough to care for his family as well as have a few hobbies of his own. The young couple by all appearances were thriving. His welding and diesel mechanic educational background mixed with the adrenaline that comes from the rodeo competitiveness lended to Chance’s enjoyment of demolition derby cars. His family had also raced cars in the past.

Things were seemingly going well for the couple, however Chance faced a significant setback when the coal mine laid off 600 employees including Chance and Matt in the early summer of 2019.

Not wasting any time in seeking employment, Chance and Matt both found employment at a local propane company within days of the layoff announcement. With the fourth of July holiday coming up, Chance was not scheduled to start his new position until the Monday after the holiday break.

Having a couple of extra days off, Chance and Baylee loaded up their vehicle and traveled the approximate 4 hour drive to Gering, Nebraska to spend some time with Baylee’s family. They had intended it to be a short trip and that they would return Sunday for Chance to have the opportunity to gather his new welding helmet and prepare for his new position. The 4th was on a Thursday this year and it provided an extended weekend.

On Saturday, July 6th, 2019, Chance, Baylee’s father, and Baylee’s sister’s boyfriend hit the golf course for a round at the Bayard Golf Course. Bayard is around 20 miles east of Gering. Baylee and the baby stayed behind at her grandmother’s house with other family members.

During the golf outing, Chance's mood shifted after he was given a few comments about his new job. I want to stop right here and explain that there is a ton of conflicting information about this disappearance out there online. There seems to be a lot of “he said, she said” and timeline discrepancies. I’m going to do the best I can to relay that information to you.

The conflicting stories begin on this day at the golf course. Baylee says there was a simple misunderstanding between Chance, her father and her sister’s boyfriend, but Matt says that a fight had ensued between Chance and his father-in-law. We do know that comments were made about Chance’s new salary being less than his previous job and that is where Chance’s frustrations began.

Chance, notably upset, called Baylee asking for a ride back to their home in Wyoming.

Baylee picked him up at the golf course around 5:30pm according to a witness. As with many typical golf trips, alcohol had been involved. To what extent is difficult to determine as there again are so many conflicting reports. We do know that there was alcohol being consumed it’s the amount and by who that is in question.

Baylee stated in one interview that Chance had been drinking “just enough that there was no talking any sort of sense into him” and she chose to pick him up and return to her grandmother’s house for their belongings.

Baylee said that the two left the golf course and that she drove back to her grandparent’s house arriving around 7:20pm.

Chance did not want to go into the house on O street as he had wanted to go home. He was upset that Baylee had brought him back here instead of heading straight home and he decided to walk away from the car. This behavior is not unusual for Chance. Even growing up as a teenager, if he was upset about something he would take a walk to calm down and collect his thoughts before returning.

Baylee said Chance walked South from her grandparents house until she couldn’t see him anymore.

Again I am going to reiterate that there is a ton of conflicting information here. We were given a basic timeline of phone calls by a case advocate and that is what I am using as a guide. From what I could find, full phone records have not been released.

Just after walking away from Baylee’s grandmother’s house, Chance calls Matt to ask for a ride. He stated he was walking to Torrington, WY which is 35 miles away from Gering. Matt was with a mutual friend at the time of the call and this call lasted less than a minute. Chance called the friend with Matt and this call lasted approximately 5 minutes. Matt said that Chance did not sound drunk but angry and that he did not get full details about what the fight was about. Matt asked for a few minutes to see if he could find someone to make the 4 hour drive to pick him up. Matt had been hosting his own party and not in driving shape. Matt calls Chance’s mother, Dawn, and the two were able to make plans for Chance’s uncle to drive down and pick him up.

While these plans were being made, Baylee attempted to call Chance twice and leaves voicemails. The calls do not register on Chance’s phone so he either declined them or blocked them.

A couple of minutes later, Baylee again calls Chance and leaves a voicemail.

Once again Baylee calls Chance again. This time he answers and the two speak for about 3 minutes. Baylee said that Chance was mad because he thought she called his parents but she did not.

Immediately after the call ends, Chance texts Baylee for the last time from his phone. It has not been shared what the information of this text message included.

The last call from Chance’s phone was to Baylee at 7:51 pm and the call lasted 1 minute.

Baylee sends a series of texts over the next 4-5 minutes. These are the last attempts to contact Chance via text.

Just before 8pm, Matt tries to call Chance to inform him of the plan he had made with Dawn, but he got no answer.

There are several calls from Baylee to Chance. Sometimes she left a voicemail, sometimes she received no answer.

According to the National Weather Service, around 8:20 pm a heavy thunderstorm rolled into the area.

With the storm, Baylee called a couple local establishments to see if Chance had ducked into one of them. There were a few bars in the area.

The last text Chance’s phone received was from his mother at 8:54 pm. This is the last received message on Chance’s phone.

The storm brought flash flooding and heavy rain into the area until around 9pm when there was a break.

Just after 9 pm, two iMessage texts were sent to Chance’s aunt Katy. It was a jumble of numbers and emojis. This caused extreme concern with his family as Chance never used emojis when texting.

Chance’s phone pinged near the vicinity of the WTT Truck Stop in Scottsbluff just 1.4 miles northwest at 10 pm. Remember that this is just a ping. He was not actually seen at the truckstop. That just means that he was close to that tower.

According to Gering PD, the activity on Chance’s phone ends shortly after.

Baylee continues to call Chance into the late hours of the night. She went to bed thinking Chance would cool down and return to her grandparents. When she awoke early in the morning and he was not there she started calling Chance again and became worried. She calls hospitals and continues to call Chance leaving voicemails all through the day.

Chance was a responsible adult. Perhaps he had made it home to Moorcraft and he would show up for his new job on Monday. It’s possible he could still be angry or upset with Baylee. When he wasn’t there by noon, the idea that something terrible happened to Chance had really set in.

A missing person report was filed and intensive searches were conducted in Scottbluff, Terrytown and Gering. Remember all of these towns are extremely close to each other. Multiple law enforcement agencies, drones, dogs and many volunteers searched over 2,400 acres. We are talking people on foot, atv, horseback, you name it.

Multiple press conferences were held encouraging information or leads. Dawn spoke with the public pleading for help.

As we see with so many cases, theories and rumors immediately form.

With the heavy thunderstorm, flooding, and nearby bodies of water, the idea that Chance could have been swept into a river. Dawn was adamant that Chance was smart enough to know not to be near the river in the storm. He grew up knowing how to interact with nature in those situations. Matt agreed that Chance knew how to respect nature and wouldn’t have been near the water in that instance. Law enforcement chose to check the waterways regardless using sonar, cadaver dogs and by boat and found no evidence.

After 5 days, the searches were suspended because law enforcement felt that they had searched all of the viable places and they needed to shift gears into the investigation. Several interviews were conducted and search warrants executed. Polygraph tests were even given but all of the leads came up empty.

As part of this investigation, law enforcement sought out camera footage that may have captured Chance walking. They were able to find a few notable pieces of footage that helped narrow Chance’s timeline.

At 7:44pm, security footage at Dooley Oil on 10th street of Chance walking past was recovered.

Another surveillance video at Domino’s Pizza shows Chance walking northbound on 10th at 7:48 pm and he appears to be on the phone.

Security footage at Weathercraft Roofing on 10th and Martha catches Chance walking again at 7:51pm. This is just under two miles from Baylee’s grandparents house.

At 8:01 pm Chance is seen on a confirmed ring camera video at Terry Blvd and Stable Club Rd. It appears that Chance was looking at his phone and makes an immediate turn. Perhaps he was looking at a map.

Both families cooperated and searches of all of their properties have been completed. Law enforcement has found no evidence of foul play.

Not long after Chance went missing, a friend went past his house and found a random cell phone sitting on the porch. Matt wanted to take the phone and turn it into law enforcement as part of the investigation. A neighbor grabbed it instead and the family confirmed with law enforcement that the phone belonged to an unhoused individual and had no relevance to Chance’s disappearance.

Suspicions around Baylee arose fairly quickly. We see that over and over again in this industry. The spouse is the first to have the finger pointed at them. There were some activities that seemed to concern individuals. A few statements that may have been taken out of context surfaced and it caused some red flags. At one point, Baylee had spoken with Chance’s employer stating that Chance was not coming back for his job but there is a press conference contradicting this. There are reports that early on in the investigation she had made comments that Chance was no longer alive. She felt that there was no way he would have left their son. A couple of other flags locals discussed was that Baylee had looked into seeing if she could draw against Chance’s 401k but she couldn’t without a death certificate. Chance paid all of the bills. He was missing and she was left with nothing to survive so I take this as she was trying to figure out how to provide for her child given the situation.

The investigation into Chance's disappearance remained active, with authorities continuing to chase down leads and receive tips from the public for over 2 years.

In October of 2021, the lower portion of a human arm bone was discovered downstream of the North Platte River by a hunter. It was sent for DNA testing but the bone was not in the greatest shape. It had to be sent to another lab in Florida. Law enforcement felt that the bone belonged to another missing person, Gene Patterson-Black. He was missing from the area close to where the bone was found and some clothing items found nearby resembled the clothing Patterson-Black was last known to be wearing. DNA confirmation is still pending. We know well how long DNA testing can take in these instances.

The Englebert family continues to seek answers surrounding Chance’s disappearance.

The families have advocated for answers for almost 5 years now. On Chance’s 29th birthday, his grandmother offered a $220,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any suspects involved. This reward expired on December 2, 2023.

Chance was last seen on July 6, 2019, in Gering Nebraska. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. 5’ 11” tall with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a short sleeve button-up wrangler shirt, dark blue wrangler jeans, roper-style boots and a black and white trucker hat.

If you have any information about Chance’s disappearance, please contact the Gearing Police Department at 308.436.5088.

Chance’s family also runs a Facebook page called Help Find Chance Englebert.

Sources:

Nebraska : Chance Englebert

Montana : Jeannette “Charlie” Atwater