Gakwa, a nursing student and native to Kenya, went missing in early 2022 several months after moving to Gillette with her fiancé at the time, Nathan J. Hightman. He’s now serving a prison sentence for stealing from her after she was last heard from, but meanwhile, she still hasn’t been found.
This is where WyoFind comes in.
WyoFind, founded by a Gillette resident Stacy Koester and family members of missing persons in Wyoming, formed to continue pursuing missing persons cases and provide closure for families.
Gakwa’s case, in part, inspired the nonprofit to form. Koester never met Gakwa when she first took interest in the case, but said that even without knowing Gakwa, she understood the cause.
“When the case first came out, there was a public service announcement and then nothing,” Koester said. “(The family) needed somebody in this town to be the person to help them with the search.”
She made it her mission to make sure Gakwa’s case did not go cold. She searched Gillette and with a team of women, made posters and signs. Billboards were used to ask the unanswered question: Where is Irene?
“She’s tenacious,” said Jennifer Kocher, journalist and member of WyoFind. “She’s led all the searches in Gillette, dozens and dozens of them.”
After beginning with the Gakwa case, the operation grew from a small group to the mission WyoFind has taken on today. Cadaver dogs, search groups and hundreds of hours have been dedicated to finding people. The nonprofit hopes to raise funds to pay for searches, without putting costs on families of missing people.
“When we first showed up, we just showed up and ran,” Koester said. “Now it’s much more organized.” They’ve taken on dozens of cases — some solved, some ongoing. One solved case was that of Azia Saldana.
“Azia had been missing for several months … there was zero communication with anybody,” Kocher said. “(Koester) and Azia’s mother were instrumental in finding her. She’s put in countless hours into this.”
After Saldana was found, her mother, Lisa, joined the initiative as a board member.
Kennedy Wainaina, Gakwa’s brother, has also joined WyoFind as a board member. Wainaina has taken a significant role in the search to find his sister from the beginning.
GILLETTE — More than two years have passed since Irene Gakwa was reported missing from Gillette. Now a new nonprofit, WyoFinds, continues the search for her and other missing persons
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