Ali Gray and her employer said they met a woman in mid-February on a street corner in Sarasota, Fla., and gave her $20. After seeing an article in People magazine about Bechtel, the two believed they had seen her.
Ms. Gray, who also has blond hair, is in the process of collecting hair from her car because the woman leaned into the car, said Fremont County investigator Dave King.
King will send the hair samples along with actual strands of Bechtel's hair to the Wyoming State Crime Lab.
Because workers at the lab are overloaded, King said he said it could take months to have it processed unless they have reason to expedite it.
"It's a scientific long shot, but it's more like an insurance thing," King said.
Bechtel, 25, has been missing since July 24 when she went running in Shoshone National Forest near her hometown of Lander.
Several other people have reported seeing a woman resembling Bechtel.
One person reported seeing Bechtel at a bingo parlor, about six miles north of the original sighting. She was reportedly wearing a gray shirt with the word "Fremont" possibly printed on it.
But King said he is not optimistic about the sighting, because the woman at the bingo hall was reported to be taller than Bechtel.
In the Tampa metro area, a woman matching Bechtel's description was spotted at a water theme park. King said he is still investigating that lead.