Where is Karlie Lain Gusé?
Karlie was just 16 years old when she was last seen near her home in Chalfant Valley, California in October 2018, she has not been seen or heard from since.
Karlie Lain Gusé was born on May 13th, 2002, to Zachary Gusé and Lindsay Fairley. She was the second child born to the couple, who already had a son, Kane. The couple divorced when Karlie was just a few years old, with Lindsay obtaining full custody of the two children. It is reported that Lindsay and Zach remained amicable, and that the children would regularly see their father.
At the time of her disappearance, Karlie was living with her father, his wife, Melissa and her two half-brothers. They lived in the White Mountain Estates area of Chalfant Valley, a small community in Mono County about 15 miles from the city of Bishop.
On October 12, 2018, the evening before Karlie disappeared, she asked her parents if she could attend a football game at Bishop High School. They agreed that she could go, but Karlie never showed up at the game. Instead, Karlie went to a house party in Bishop (it has also been reported that it was not a party, just a group of friends smoking weed). At around 8 pm, Melissa called Karlie to ask her if she needed a ride home from the game. Karlie told Melissa that she would get a ride home with her boyfriend Donald.
At the party, Karlie smoked some weed, despite having a previous reaction to the drug. Karlie became paranoid and started to act strangely. Donald said that she started to act weird and was terrified of everything. It was thought that the weed could have been laced with something, but police tested drugs from the house, which were not found to contain any other substances.
There are different accounts of what happened next. One account states that Donald called Melissa to come and pick Karlie up. Another source states that Karlie called Melissa herself, asking Melissa to come and get her. Melissa told the police that Karlie said on the phone to her that she was scared.
At approximately 9 pm, Melissa arrived at the location of the party (or house), but Karlie was nowhere to be seen. Melissa drove around the area until she saw a light, as she got closer and saw that it was coming from Karlie’s phone. Melissa got Karlie in the car and drove her back to their house. When they arrived home, Karlie continued to act erratically. Melissa did not think that Karlie was in immediate danger, she thought it was a reaction to the weed or something else that she had taken at the party, and so did not take her to the hospital.
Two recordings were made of Karlie by her parents, allegedly to show her how marijuana affected her. On the recordings, Karlie says that she is scared, but does not know why. She also can be heard asking Melissa if she would call 911 if something bad were to happen to her, to which Melissa said “yes”. However, Karlie's biological mother, Lindsay states that the recordings state something completely different. Lindsay said that the recordings show Karlie begging Melissa to call 911, but she refused to do so (the recordings can be heard in this documentary).
At some point in the early hours of October 13, Karlie went to bed. What happened next is not entirely clear, as Melissa changed her statement. Melissa originally told police that she went to check on Karlie at 5:45 a.m. and found her asleep. An hour and a half later, at 7:15 am, she went to wake Karlie, but she was nowhere to be seen. Melissa then later told police that she stayed with Karlie in her room the entire night and when she woke up at 7 am, Karlie was gone and the door to the property was alleged to be ajar. Karlie did not take any possessions with her when she left the house.
The change in Melissa's statement made Karlie’s biological mother, Lindsay suspicious. Lindsay said that she received a call from Zach at approximately 9.35 am, with Zach telling her that Karlie was “gone”. Lindsay said that the word “gone” used by Zach was a red flag. Lindsay told Dr Phil that she believes Karlie died of a drug overdose and Melissa and Zach covered it up.
Zach and Melissa have received a lot of harassment over the case and speculation that they had some involvement in Karlie’s disappearance. However, there is no evidence to back any of these claims up and the police did forensic testing on everything in the house and their cars.
In addition, three credible witnesses saw a young girl that matched Karlie’s description in the early hours of October 13, so police are convinced that Karlie did leave the family home alive. Two of the witnesses knew Karlie and had seen her before.
Richard Eddie was at his home when he saw a young girl with long hair, wearing a T-shirt and grey pants, walk past sometime between 6.30 and 6.45 am. He thought that it was strange as she was looking up at the sky and waving a piece of paper in the air as she walked. Richard said that at approximately 8 am, a woman came to his home (we can assume that this was Melissa and that she was knocking on all the doors) asking if he had seen her daughter. He said that he thought he had seen her and, so, got on his motorcycle and rode into a nearby canyon to see If she was still on the road. She was not. Kenneth Dutton, one of the other witnesses also said that he saw Karlie that same morning, also holding a piece of paper. Another witness saw Karlie walking south approximately 30 yards east of Highway 6 and 100 yards south of Sierra View Road at around 7 to 7.30 am.
In a video on YouTube made by Explore with Us, they report that in the days leading up to Karlie’s disappearance, her behaviour changed. She was convinced that someone was tracking her phone, but no one knew why she believed this.
Karlie’s case has gained national and even worldwide attention, but police are no closer to finding her, knowing where she is or what happened after the last witness saw her. There has been much speculation over what happened and who was to blame, with lots of information circulating that is speculative and false. If you would like to know more about these claims, I suggest watching this video.
One theory is that Karlie was kidnapped. Another theory is that she wandered off the road and into the desert. Police scoured the area with helicopters and police dogs, finding no sign of Karlie. Accusations have also been made against the police for mishandling the crime scene. They were accused of not taking Karlie’s bedsheets and Melissa’s car for forensic testing.
On Karlie’s 20th birthday, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression photo of what she might look like today.
People Magazine Investigates aired a documentary on Karlie, giving the public some new evidence that had come to their attention. Two and a half years after Karlie went missing, a witness came forward and told police that they had seen Karlie in Tonopah and that she had been picked up on Highway 6. They claimed that she had been at a party in Tonopah when something happened to her, but what that was, was not disclosed. Karlie had no reason to go to Tonopah as she had no connections to the small mining town. The witness said that they were scared to come forward sooner as they were a former drug user and did not want to get into trouble.
Should anyone have any information on Karlie’s whereabouts, please call the Mono County Sheriff’s Office at 760–932–7549, option 7. Alternatively, contact the National Center for Missing & Endangered Children (NCMEC) at 800–843–5678.
The Gusé family are offering a reward of $20,000 for a safe return of Karlie. In addition, the FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the location of Karlie.
Sources and Further Reading
Search warrants issued, data pulled from electronic devices in search for missing teen
This California girl vanished the same week as Jayme Closs and is still missing
Case of missing California teen leads to Nevada
YouTube
People Magazine Investigates - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O8yuNkIsJM
Explore with us — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSvVkGqD6m0
Anna Solves — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo0NHPxkqOc
Kasey Shane — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TieQaoJz-nU
Melissa Ellen — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny-TX8TYTgE
KIT — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyanWVMIeLk
Dr. Phil — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1AFBLQ5Ri0
About the Creator
Armchair Detective
Amateur writer, I mostly write about true crime.
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