Missing Wyoming teen found dead in Sturgis-area home
Written by Beth on October 9, 2019
STURGIS, S.D. (KEVN/KOTA TV) – A missing Wyoming teen is dead and another juvenile arrested in Sturgis, according to a release from the Meade County Sheriff’s Office.
Monday, the body of a young female was discovered in a basement bedroom of a home in the Blucksberg area, near Sturgis. The Meade County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday night that she is the missing Wyoming teenager, 16-year-old Shayna Ritthaler.
Police did not release how the teen died. An autopsy is pending for later this week.
The suspect in Shayna’s death is confined in the Juvenile Services Center in Rapid City. Criminal charges are pending. The juvenile’s name is not being released at this time.
Meade County sheriff’s deputies and agents from the state Division of Criminal Investigations performed the search in the Blucksberg home. The search was done based on information from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, which was working with the Deadwood and Moorcroft police departments.
Ritthaler went missing Oct. 3 after she was last seen getting into a car in Moorcroft, Wyo. Police believed at that time she was probably in the Deadwood or Sturgis area.
