Rawlins has always been a peaceful small town. However, the summer of 1974 changed everything. Four girls in a seven week span completely vanished, never to be seen alive again. The once tranquil town of Rawlins had to come to terms with the fact that a serial killer was on the loose.

Flickr/Jdmoar
July 4, 1974 was supposed to be a day of celebration in Rawlins, Wyoming, but for two girls and their families, the day ended in a nightmare.
Flickr/National Little Britches Rodeo Association "NLBRA"
These two girls, who were friends, were attending the Little Britches Rodeo in Rawlins, Wyoming. The girls were Carlene Brown, 19, and Christy Gross, 19. That was the last anyone ever saw of them until the skeletal remains of Christy Gross were found on October 27, 1983, south of Sinclair. She had been killed by two heavy blows to the skull.
Flickr/Susan Sermoneta
On August 4, 1974, Deborah Rae Meyer was at her relative's home in Rawlins when she decided to go see a movie. She left for the movie and was never seen or heard from again.

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Flickr/Casey Brown
Another young girl vanished August 23rd that same year. Jayleen Banker, 10, vanished while attending the Carbon County Rodeo. She was with a friend who she ended up getting separated from and was never seen again until later when her body was found in a field.
By State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9689236
There was some speculation that Ted Bundy was a possible suspect simply because he had been linked to so many murders in Colorado and Utah in the '70s.
Facebook/fsecart
Another possible suspect was Royal Russel Long who was a truck driver and lived near Rawlins when the crimes occurred. He also worked in carnivals and fairs at the time. He was also a suspect in the murders of three other girls from Oklahoma in the '80s. Again, he was a suspect but never charged because there was never any evidence that connected him to the Rawlins murders. He was sentenced to jail, however, for the kidnapping and assault of two girls from South Dakota. He suffered a fatal heart attack in 1992 and died while in jail.

Carlene Brown and Deborah Rae Meyer have never been located. The killer has not yet been found.

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