Karlie Gusé went missing in 2018, is there a development in the case?

In 2018, 16-year-old Karlie Gusé vanished from Bishop, California. Since then, the Gusé went cold, but three years later, in 2021, authorities said they received a new tip that might help finally figure out what happened to her.

As covered in the true crime documentary, People Magazine Investigates: The Strange Disappearance of Karlie Gusé, streaming now on Max, the last night she was seen, Gusé told her parents she was on her way to a high school football game but went to a party with friends instead. While there, Gusé told her parents she smoked marijuana and seemed to have a bad reaction. Afraid, Karlie called her stepmother, Melissa Gusé, to pick her up, according to People.

For the remainder of that night, however, Karlie acted erratically, leading her father, Zachary Gusé, to think she unknowingly smoked something much more dangerous at the party.  

Melissa said she stayed up all night with Karlie to try and comfort her stepdaughter while she recovered. But when Melissa woke up at around 6 a.m. after she accidentally fell asleep, Karlie was gone. She didn’t take her cell phone or any of her other personal belongings with her, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Karlie was last seen near Highway 6

Once Karlie Gusé was reported missing, several witnesses said they saw her early that morning walking toward Highway 6 in Bishop, California, holding a piece of paper, seeming to look at the sky.

Otherwise, in a later appearance on Dr. Phil in 2019, Karlie’s biological mom, Lindsay Fairley, said she thinks Karlie may have died from a drug overdose that night, and her stepmom and father lied about it. Melissa and Zachary Gusé both passed polygraph tests, and no charges were ever filed against them. Melissa was also suspected of having something to do with it based on how she acted on social media when her stepdaughter disappeared.

Karlie’s stepmother also told the authorities she recorded what her daughter said while having a bad reaction to whatever it was she consumed at the party. In the recording, Karlie can be heard telling her stepmother she was afraid her stepmother would kill her. Melissa tried to calm her down, but Karlie had similar paranoid delusions throughout the night, Melissa said. Melissa said she hoped to use the recording to teach her daughter to never do drugs again.

In 2021, a witness reported seeing Karlie at a party

After years of few developments in the case, in 2021, a witness reported that they saw Karlie Gusé at a party in Tonopah, Nevada, just across the border from California. When that sighting happened is unclear, however, but with little else at that point to go on, authorities had a new area to search for the missing teen. According to the authorities, Gusé could have somehow traveled between her home, near Bishop, and Tonopah on Highway 6, and reportedly, authorities identified a vehicle that may have taken her there.

After People Magazine Investigates reported that new lead in August 2023, there have been no developments in the case. Melissa and Zachary Gusé, however, believe Karlie may still be alive.