Lori’s Known Timeline

The last place Lori Lee Layman was seen was at America’s Best Value Inn on Garden of the Gods Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her last reported contact was a phone call with her father on April 30, 2015. The final ping from her cell phone was traced to North Nevada Avenue on May 11, 2015. The van Lori was living in was a 2002 gold Kia Sedona, 2002, which was located at the Pebble Creek Apartments on South El Paso Avenue on June 16, 2015. 

(Image is of America’s Best Value Inn location)

What Is Known About Lori Laymen at the Time

Lori Lee Layman was fifty-three at the time of her disappearance and would be sixty in 2022. She was Caucasian, with strawberry-blond hair and hazel eyes. Lori Lee was five foot three inches tall and weighed approximately 180 pounds. When she went missing, Lori was known to use drugs (what kind has not been specified). She would support herself with odd jobs and by marketing herself as an escort on Facebook in the Colorado Springs area. 

In an article from The Gazette TelegLori’sn August 2019, Lori’s father, Chuck McMullen, said he was losing hope of ever finding his daughter Lori’s

Background on Lori’s Life

Chuck McMullen, a native of Salida, Colorado, gave some information about his daughter’s life. She graduated from Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs. After this, she attended cosmetology school. Lori was married in the mid-1990s and had two boys. Her marriage didn’t last long; after the divorce, she moved to Washington State to study psychology. 

In early 2015, Lori decided to move back to Color”do. Chuck said his “daughter had “some shady friends.” He also stated “that Lori was the type of “person “who never met a stranger.” 

Known Aliases

Some of Lori’s known aliases are Lorilee McMullen-Layman, Stacia Arndt, Mary Ellen Carter, Mary A. Schmidt, HottPinkyLee, and Sunshine.

El Paso CounSheriff’s Office

The sheriff’s office spokeswoman, Jacqueline Kirby, said, “It’s not our responsibility to judge. It’s our responsibility to find her. We’ll do that because it’s somebody’s family member, somebody’s child, somebody’s parent, it’s somebody’s relative. And we take that very, very seriously.”

The investigators interviewed Lori’s friends, and family found that she was socially active, and it was uncharacteristic for her not to be in contact with someone for five or six days.

When the El Paso CounSheriff’s Office located Lori’s vehicle at the Pebble Creek Apartments in the Southgate area of Colorado, Springs, it had been cleared out. This aroused suspicions as Lori was known to live in her van. The sheriffs also found suspected blood in the van, which they sent off for analysis. The results confirmed their worst fears: it was blood, and the DNA matched Lori.

This blood analysis, the fact that Lori’s van had been cleaned, and Lori’s her absence from social circles have led the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to believe there may be foul play involved with Lori’s disappearance. As of 2022, Lori’s her body has not been found, and this cold case remains open. 

What Lori’s Van Might Have Looked Like

The images below are not of her vehicle but are the same year, make, and model as Lori Lee Layman’s van found by El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in June. 

Who to Contact With Information

If you or someone you know may have information, please contact the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at (719) 520-7183 Sheriff’s or the Colorado Cold Case Unit at (303) 239-4244.

Closing Thoughts

This case has contradicting information that I am sure hasn’t helped. For instance, the newspaper articles about Lori state she had a Kia Spectra car, but the sheriff’s office states a Kia van. I am going to go with the police on this one. Reasons why? They had it logged and tested for DNA, and they had the actual vehicle in their possession. Since Lori had an at-risk lifestyle, it is incredibly difficult to know the exact date she went missing. She has children and other family and friends that still haven’t heard from her. This leads me to believe the police’s suspicions of foul play are likely. Nonetheless, someone knows something. Please help spread the word. The ultimate goal is for Lori’s loved ones to have closure.

Thank you for spending time with us today! We have several other true crime stories if you would like, such as True Crime Lover’s Guide to Forensic DNA or Twisted Trail of Murder. This was our first missing person case, and we hope to give you more in the future.