Father of Missing Idaho Woman Fears Possible Abduction

A dad has expressed his fears his daughter may have been abducted after her car was found abandoned on Friday.

Gwen Brunelle, 27, had set off from Boise, Idaho, in her car on Monday, June 26, and was seen at a gas station in Malheur County, Oregon, the following day, according to her father, Andy Brunelle, who has tweeted about her disappearance. He said her vehicle was found abandoned on Friday and search-and-rescue teams were now trying to find her. He said he feared that she may have "wandered from the car or was abducted."

Gwen Brunelle's car was found on Succor Creek Road, about 0.4 miles west of Highway 95 in Malheur County and the search is focused across eastern Oregon, southern Idaho and northern Nevada, he added.

Andy Brunelle, whose Twitter profile says he was a staffer for former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus, posted on the social media platform on Sunday. My daughter is missing," he tweeted.

Sharing his own Facebook post about the mystery, he added: "She may have wandered from the car or was abducted. She left Boise Monday June 26 and was last seen at noon MDT Tuesday at the Sinclair gas station in Jordan Valley, OR. Gwen is 27 years old, 5'7" tall and 160 lbs. brown eyes and medium brown hair and brown eyes. She may present as disoriented." He did not explain why she may appear to be disoriented. He ended his post by urging people to call Boise Police or Malheur County Sheriff's Office if they see his daughter.

Volunteers from Malheur County Search and Rescue have joined the search, along with Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit and Ontario Fire and Rescue.

A post on Malheur County Search and Rescue's Facebook page said crews "along with various other volunteers have been searching for Gwen using dogs, drones, UTVs, on horseback and on foot for the past couple days." People were urged to call police if they have any information that could help.

Newsweek has reached out by email to Malheur County Sheriff's Office for further information and comment.

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), as many as 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. every year. Analysis of missing people over the age of 21 by numbers-crunching website Statista revealed that there were 100,492 men and 62,552 women missing in the U.S. in 2021. As for missing Americans under the age of 21, data showed higher numbers with 163,386 males and 194,673 females missing.

Abductions of children by strangers are rare, according to the FBI. In cases where circumstances of the disappearance of a juvenile have been recorded (about half the time), 0.1 percent are reported as being abducted by a stranger; the rest are runaways or have been taken by a non-custodial parent or family member.