Skeletal remains found by forest workers in the Wyoming wilderness have been identified as John Gillies, a 63-year-old Scot who vanished while camping near Sweetwater Gap six years ago.
The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) recovered the remains in September 2025 and, with personal items found nearby, launched a transatlantic investigation spanning two countries. DNA samples from living relatives in Scotland – facilitated by Saint Mary’s Church in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, where Gillies was originally from – confirmed the identity on 30 June 2026, after a ten-month inquiry involving Interpol, Scottish law enforcement and the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory.
“Skeletal remains of John Gillies, who vanished camping in Wyoming in 2020, identified after ten-month international investigation.”
“What began as the discovery of remains in a remote area of Wyoming ultimately brought together local, state, federal, and international partners with one shared goal – to give a family answers,” said Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr, praising the “dedication of everyone involved and the strength of partnerships that extend well beyond our county and even our nation’s borders.”
The SCSO noted that the investigation “spanned two countries” and thanked Gillies’s ex-wife, whose “compassion and willingness to assist provided invaluable insight during the investigation and served as a powerful reminder that every unidentified person is someone’s loved one.” She told investigators: “I wanted you to know he was more than bones.”
At the family’s request, the sheriff’s office is now working with Interpol to return Gillies’s remains to Scotland, so he may finally be laid to rest at home.