What If He’s Still Out There? Billings Baby Still Missing After 16 Years

There are stories that haunt the heart long after the headlines fade. Wyatt Cole Little Light is one of those stories. If he’s still alive, he’d be 16 now. A teenager. Maybe in high school. Maybe working his first job. Maybe walking through life with no idea that somewhere, someone is still desperately hoping he’s out there, wondering if he’s okay.

A Disappearance That Shook a Community

Just before Christmas in 2008, one-month-old Wyatt vanished alongside his parents, Juliet and Teddy Little Light from Billings. The family was last seen when Teddy dropped his older son off in Crow Agency, Montana. After that, silence.

It wasn’t until Juliet’s grandmother passed away in early January, and Juliet never showed up for the funeral, that alarm bells began to ring. By then, the snow was deep and the cold was punishing.

READ MORE:  Montana Woman With Ties to Billings Now Missing for a Year

On January 5, the couple's blue and white 1996 Chevy pickup was found abandoned miles from the road on Grapevine Road between Highway 91 and Fort Smith where Teddy had hunted before. The truck was in working condition and had gas. But Juliet, Teddy, and baby Wyatt were gone.

A Grief Deeper Than the Snow

Months passed. In May 2009, searchers finally located the remains of Juliet and Teddy, just a few miles from the truck. Snow had likely hidden them in earlier searches. Authorities said their deaths were consistent with exposure. No signs of foul play. Just a brutal Montana winter and a tragic turn of events.

They found clothing, too. Some of it child-sized.

But they never found Wyatt.

What If He Survived?

It’s possible, investigators say, that baby Wyatt didn't make it. That his small body was lost to the elements and wildlife. But “possible” isn’t the same as certain. And it leaves a window cracked open just enough for questions to pour through.

What if he survived?

What if someone found him that night? What if he was taken in and raised by people who didn’t know, or didn’t want to know, who he really was?

READ MORE: A Family’s Tireless Search for Missing Billings, Montana Woman

What if Wyatt Cole Little Light is out there today, a teenager with a different name and no idea where he truly comes from?

A Name That Deserves to Be Remembered

Wyatt was only a month old when he vanished. Too young to remember his parents. Too young to know his heritage. But he is a member of the Crow Nation. He is a Little Light. And somewhere, someone may still be looking into the eyes of a young man and wondering why he feels like a mystery they can’t quite solve.

If Wyatt is alive, he may not know his real birthday is October 24. He may not know he’s Native American. He may not know he had a mom and dad who loved him.

But we know. And we’re still asking the question: What if he’s still out there?

Get our free mobile app

Stories like this don’t belong to the past. They live in the hearts of everyone still hoping that one missing child somehow, miraculously, comes home.