Fremont County Sheriff's investigator Dave King says he is comfortable with the alibi told by Kelly McLoud, who knew the missing Amy Wroe Bechtel when she worked in a Laramie coffee shop.
Mrs. Bechtel disappeared after a July 24, 1997 running trip in the Shoshone National Forest near Lander. Her family had pointed to McLoud as a possible suspect since he knew Amy and could not be found, said her husband, Steve Bechtel.
King said McLoud is not a suspect, and a two-hour interview in the Medford, Ore. jail did not reveal any surprises that would take the investigation in a new direction.
King said McLoud was on the East Coast at the time Mrs. Bechtel disappeared, and friends in Wyoming told him she was missing. But McLoud was able to provide some information investigators did not have before, including the subjects of some "heart to heart" conversations between Mrs. Bechtel and McLoud, King said.
"He offered valuable information to us of a personal nature about Amy and about Amy and Steve's relationship. We didn't hear anything unexpected," he said.
McLoud has been on the run with a child from a previous marriage for about seven years. He met Mrs. Bechtel in 1995, when she was working at a Laramie coffee shop. She got McLoud interested in running and McLoud entered a few races, King said.
But Bechtel said McLoud was "pretty fond of her" and when he got too close, she became uncomfortable.
"To my knowledge she never had problems with anybody else who was pushing it too far," Steve Bechtel said.
McLoud jumped bail in Paducah, Ky. while awaiting a second trial on sexual assault charges, King said. A fugitive warrant was issued for him in 1991. He was arrested in Oregon on Feb. 6.
Bechtel does not think they have any solid leads, yet he remains optimistic.
Bechtel and King talked for about an hour and a half, without his attorney present, Bechtel said.
Although they did not discuss issues stemming from Bechtel's refusal to take a polygraph test shortly after his wife's disappearance last year, they "talked about talking about it," he said.