Stefanie's disappearance has links to a notorious serial killer. Tommy Lynn Sells (who was executed in 2014) claimed that he was the one who promised her a ride from Wells to Reno on the last day the missing woman was ever seen alive. He confessed to strangling the missing coed to death before disposing of her body somewhere near Winnemucca, Nevada. Investigators have never been able to substantiate Tommy's claims, and he's dead now, so it would be impossible to get any further information out of him. However, it's curious that he provided details that seemed to correlate with the facts surrounding her disappearance. She was known to be hitchhiking at the time of her disappearance, and as previously stated, she told her parents she had found a ride. If Tommy Lynn Sells didn't kill this woman, then who did he kill near Winnemucca, Nevada?
It should be noted that authorities have searched the areas where Tommy Lynn Sells claimed to have disposed of the missing woman's body. The prolific serial killer claimed that he encased her body in cement and then dumped her in a hot spring near Winnemucca. There are quite a few hot springs, so it's possible that detectives didn't check the right one, or Tommy was simply playing a game of cat and mouse with the authorities. Even up until the moment he was put to death, Tommy Lynn Sells refused to discuss some of his crimes and the specifics surrounding them. Perhaps if he had killed Stefanie Stroh, he simply didn't want the true location of her body found.
Even if Stefanie Stroh wasn't one of the numerous victims slain by Tommy Lynn Sells, she almost certainly met some kind of foul play while hitchhiking from Wells to Reno, Nevada. She never made it to her destination and fell completely out of contact with anyone who ever knew her. She has also never resurfaced to let authorities know that she is safe and unharmed. In other words, this woman has ceased to exist for the past 29 years. Circumstances like these almost always point to foul play -- in particular, murder.
The last physical search for Stefanie Stroh's remains was many, many years ago. It seems that after nearly 30 years, detectives would prefer to wait until her remains are found accidentally by hikers or some other innocent passerby. The problem with this is that it could take many years for skeletal remains to be identified, especially when the system is already backed up with untested John and Jane Does. Whether or not there are any surviving family members who are still mourning the disappearance of Stefanie Stroh, this case deserves closure.