It was supposed to be a simple drive home — a quick trip from Colorado to Montana. But for 18-year-old Lisa “Lil Miss” Kimmell, it became six days of pure terror, ending in one of the most disturbing murder cases America has ever seen.
On March 25, 1988, Lisa — bright, beautiful, and full of life — was pulled over for speeding in Douglas, Wyoming. It was the last time anyone saw her alive. What followed was a nightmare so twisted it would haunt investigators for decades.
Eight days later, her body was found floating in a river — stabbed, assaulted, and discarded like a secret no one wanted told. The nation was horrified. Her beloved black Honda CRX, proudly displaying her custom plate “LIL MISS”, had vanished.
Then came the sightings. People swore they’d seen her car. Some claimed they saw a woman matching Lisa’s description behind the wheel. But every lead went cold. The mystery deepened. Was she kidnapped by a stranger? Or someone she knew?
For 14 long years, the Kimmell family lived in agony — until science finally spoke. In 2002, DNA cracked the case wide open. The killer was Dale Wayne Eaton, an ex-con drifter with a dark past and a taste for violence.
Investigators uncovered a house of horrors: Eaton had kept Lisa captive in an abandoned school bus, torturing her before killing her and burying her car on his property — as if hiding a trophy of his evil.
When police unearthed the vehicle, the sight sent shivers through even veteran detectives. The plate “LIL MISS” still gleamed faintly in the dirt — a ghostly reminder of innocence stolen.
Eaton was convicted in 2003, but even behind bars, his shadow looms large. Authorities suspect Lisa wasn’t his only victim, and the Wyoming wilderness may still hold his secrets.
Years later, in an act both defiant and cathartic, Lisa’s family burned down Eaton’s property on what would have been her 36th birthday — turning the place of her torment into ashes.
Lisa “Lil Miss” Kimmell’s story remains a chilling reminder that evil often hides in plain sight — and that even the most ordinary journey can end in unimaginable horror.
