Coffee sleeves feature Wyoming missing people cold cases

If you go to the Wyld Sage Coffee House or SunJoy in Greybull, your coffee sleeve may have a photo on it. The photos are from cold cases of people missing in Wyoming. One Big Horn County case is B. Danell Bennet, who went missing in July of 2021. Her vehicle was found near the Crystal Creek Rest Area in the Bighorn Mountains.

Stacy Koester is the president of the nonprofit WyoFind. She started WyoFind to help find missing people because she has a personal experience with a missing person in her family.

The idea to do the coffee sleeve project, called “Face on the coffee sleeve,” was that of a board member that had seen a similar project and brought the idea to WyoFind. Koester likened the project to the missing people on milk cartons from the 1980’s. 

“Having the photos on the coffee sleeves was an epic idea because a lot of people drink coffee. Every sleeve shared help spread awareness and brings renewed hope to the families still searching for answers,” she said. 

The sleeve project is less than two months old. It started with some coffee shops in Gillette. Then expanded to Sheridan, Cheyenne and Casper. The group then made post cards about the project and mailed them to all the coffee shops they could find in Wyoming. They thought they might get one or two. Instead, almost all the coffee shops said sign me up.  

Koester said she would like to get more in Big Horn County involved. Shops can call her at (307) 318-5720 or email info@wyofind.org to sign up. The sleeves are free to the shops, money is raised through donations.  WyoFind has an Amazon Wish List and takes donations to cover the cost of the sticker production/shipping. It is possible to donate on their website at wyofind.org. The website also has a way to request a cold case be added to the Face on the Coffee Sleeve project.

Those featured on the sleeves are Wyoming DCI cases. In addition to the photo, the sleeves have the missing persons name, the date they went missing, where they went missing from and which law enforcement agency is handling the case. WyoFind is advocacy group they are not law enforcement. That is why the direct law enforcement contact is on the sleeve.

Koester believes with her whole heart it takes one tip. “One person to see the photo and to say, ‘I remember him and I remember this.’ Something that may seem small may be the key to open the case back up,” she said.