Woman, 69, behind bars for vehicular homicide walks away from prison camp as official launch search to find her

Joan Wenger was discovered missing from the Jean Conservation Camp on September 14

Joan Wenger, 69, walked away from Jean Conservation Camp on September 14 (NDOC)

A search has been launched for an inmate who walked away from prison near Las Vegas over the weekend.

Joan Wenger, 69, was discovered missing from the Jean Conservation Camp during a 3 a.m. count on September 14, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

The minimum-security inmate, who has been at the facility since December 1, was serving a 120-month sentence for vehicle homicide.

The facility is currently the only camp in Nevada that houses female offenders, according to the NDOC. It’s located approximately 20 miles south of Las Vegas.

Wenger is described as being 5-feet 1-inch tall, weighing 135 pounds, with green eyes and gray hair. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the inmate is urged to call 911 immediately.

Wenger was sentenced in 2021 for a drunken crash in February 2020 that killed a mom, according to the Record-Courier.

She was driving in someone else’s Toyota Tacoma on Highway 395 with a half bottle of whiskey when she slammed into the back of a car and Laura Staugaard, 70, was thrown from the vehicle.

Staugaard died at the scene.

Staugaard’s son Thomas Staugaard, who survived survived the crash, spoke out at a hearing for Wenger.

“Prison is too good for her,” he said in response to the defense attorney’s assertion that Wenger could be in prison for the rest of her life. “It will be better than dying in the middle of Highway 395 on a dark night. At least she’ll have a nice hospital bed when she dies in prison.”

Wenger ultimately agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a recommendation of 10-25 years in prison.

“I wish every day that horrific deadly decision to drink and drive had never happened,” she said.