Lois Ford Identified After 43-Year Search

Custer County Sheriff's Office investigators confirmed in 2026 that Lois Ford, who vanished in 1983, died in Ada County in 1993. The identification resolves a four-decade search by her family for answers regarding her fate.

Ford was last known to live in Challis when she disappeared. For decades, her relatives contacted law enforcement, private detectives, and psychic mediums to find her. However, officials noted that Ford was never officially reported missing due to confusion among family members.

Investigator Dave Walls took over the case in 2025. He searched missing persons databases in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, as well as records for unidentified bodies, but found no direct matches. Walls then examined coroner offices and accident archives across the West, looking for a 1978 Ford Thunderbird that also went missing.

A break in the case occurred when Walls found court records using an alias similar to Ford's name. Handwriting analysis of historical documents suggested Ford had signed them. Sheriff's officials stated this provided proof of life in the Boise area in 1992. Walls also found several other aliases in Idaho's State Fingerprint Repository.

Walls contacted Ada County Detective Tim Cooper, who recently identified Boise's Unknown Wanderer. Cooper used the new aliases to search historical Boise Police Department records. He found multiple contacts between police and Ford. This led the team to a 1993 Ada County Coroner case where a deceased woman was buried under a different name because investigators could not find next-of-kin.

Walls verified that the deceased in that 1993 case was Lois Ford. Her surviving family members also confirmed the identification. Documents from the coroner's office indicated Ford was homeless when she died and that mental illness contributed to her passing. The Custer County Sheriff's Office acknowledged the help from Detective Cooper and Idaho State Police investigator Karl Noah in closing the case.

Sheriff's officials noted that Ford's children and grandchildren were able to reclaim her remains and restore her name. The resolution ends the formal search for the Challis woman who disappeared in 1983.