Karlie Lain Gusé was an ordinary California 16-year-old. She liked to hang out with her boyfriend Donald Arrowood III, enjoyed dancing, attended Bishop Union High School in Bishop, Inyo County, and worked as an escrow assistant after school to make a little money. On the morning of October 13, 2018, her concerned family reported her missing.
At the time of her disappearance, Karlie had recently been suspended from school, having been found using marijuana on the property. Friends also described how she had been experiencing “episodes” and was paranoid that someone was using her cell phone to track her. However, her mother, Lindsay Fairley, and stepmother, Melissa Gusé, hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
So what exactly happened that led to Karlie Gusé going missing?
What happened to Karlie Gusé?
According to People (who also aired the true crime documentary People Magazine Investigates: The Strange Disappearance of Karlie Gusé), on the last evening Karlie Gusé was seen, she had told her stepmother Melissa Gusé and her father Zachary Gusé that she was heading to a high school football game. However, she actually went to a party with her friends instead.
At the party, Karlie smoked marijuana — at least, that is what she told her stepmother Melissa in a panicked phone call to her after having a bad reaction to it. The phone call prompted Melissa to pick her stepdaughter up and take her home.
Once Karlie arrived home, her behavior was peculiar, which made her father, Zachary, believe she had smoked something more potent and dangerous at the party, knowingly or otherwise. It made Melissa stay awake with Karlie, intending to do so all night. However, she fell asleep.
As Stories of the Unsolved explains, having initially lied about what happened on the morning, Melissa told a different story under scrutiny (which has led to suspicions of wrongdoing that haven’t been proven). She awoke briefly at 5:48 a.m. to see Karlie lying beside her, awake, before drifting off again. Between 7:15 am and 7:30 am, Melissa awoke and discovered her stepdaughter had vanished and the front door was slightly ajar. She then spent two hours driving around their housing estate and the surrounding desert with her husband, believing Karlie to have gone for a head-clearing walk. At 9:35 a.m., unable to locate her, they called the authorities.
According to the FBI’s website, Karlie left all her personal belongings behind, including her cell phone, and was probably wearing gray sweatpants or jeans, a white T-shirt, and Vans brand sneakers at the time.
Witnesses last saw Karlie walking south approximately 30 yards east of Highway 6 on October 13, 2018. A thorough search of the area and investigation ensued, but to no avail, and Karlie hasn’t been in touch with any family or friends since.
The case is still open, and the FBI and Mono County Sheriff’s Office welcome any information that will help find Karlie Gusé. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5′ 7″ tall, weighed 110 lbs, had long dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and a piercing in her left nostril. Here’s hoping answers about her whereabouts come, one way or another, very soon.
