Child rapist is suspected in case of missing mother

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A man awaiting sentencing for raping an 8-year-old girl remains the prime suspect in the disappearance of her mother and is a "person of interest" in the 1985 disappearance of his half-sister from Bellevue.

Steven Allen DeLoge, 40, pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree sexual assault last week in Laramie County.

The assaults occurred last year while DeLoge, the girl and her 9-year-old brother were staying at an apartment in Cheyenne. Before they came to Cheyenne, DeLoge had lived with the children and their mother in Mississippi, authorities said. The mother disappeared Feb. 1, 1999.

DeLoge also is a "person of interest" in the disappearance of his half-sister in Bellevue, Detective Jeff Gomes said. Elizabeth Eisel was last seen in 1985.

The woman's adoptive father, LeRoy Eisel of Texas, said DeLoge and Elizabeth had apparently reunited after she became an adult.