Virginia Lynne Uden

• Missing Since 09/12/1980
• Missing From Lander, Wyoming
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 10/06/1947 (76)
• Age 32 years old
• Height and Weight 5'6, 170 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) 1973 Ford station wagon (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Virginia has a birthmark on her lower left eyelid.

Details of Disappearance

Virginia and her sons Reagan and Richard were last seen on September 12, 1980. They were leaving Virginia's mother's residence in Riverton, Wyoming at approximately 1:30 p.m. and driving the family's station wagon to meet Virginia's ex-husband, Gerald Uden. He was going to take Reagan and Richard bird hunting and the boys had a rifle in the car with them. They never arrived at their destination and have never been seen again.

The Udens' 1973 Ford station wagon, which Virginia had borrowed from her mother, was found abandoned and vandalized on October 4, 1980, nearly one month after she and her sons had disappeared. The station wagon was located in the vicinity of the 700 block of north Federal Court in Riverton, Wyoming, near Dickson Park Road and Trout Creek Canyon in the Wind River Canyon region of Fremont County.

It appeared as if someone had tried to push it into the canyon, but it had become lodged on some rocks 75 feet from the top. Someone then tried to conceal it by covering it with pine branches. Large amounts of Virginia's blood were found all over the car's interior.

Photographs of Gerald and his current wife, Alice Louise Uden, are posted with this case summary. They moved to Missouri sometime after Virginia, Reagan and Richard disappeared. In September 2013, Gerald and Alice were arrested and charged with murder.

Gerald was charged with the murders of Virginia and her sons. He was not their biological father, but he had legally adopted them. In October 2013, he pleaded guilty to all three murders and provided a detailed account as to what happened.

Gerald stated he shot Virginia, Richard and Reagan with the .22 caliber rifle they were going to use for bird hunting. He admitted the murders were premeditated and said he shot them after they got out of the car at a canal near Pavillion in Fremont County, Wyoming. Gerald put the bodies in large drums and dumped them in Fremont Lake, which is approximately 450 feet deep.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, Gerald was sentenced to life in prison. He referred to Virginia as a "predator" and showed no remorse for his actions.

Alice was charged with murdering her husband, Ronald Holtz. They married in September 1974, and he disappeared sometime after Christmas that year. Prosecutors claimed she shot him in the head with a .22 caliber rifle and dumped his body in an abandoned gold mine, and it wasn't found until August 2013.

Alice had long been a suspect in Holtz's disappearance, and in 1989 a witness said she'd confessed to his murder, but the police didn't have enough evidence to make a case against her until his body was located. Alice was tried in the spring of 2014. She claimed Holtz was abusive and she shot him to protect her daughter from him. She was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Foul play is suspected in the Udens' cases due to the circumstances involved.