ORIGINAL: BrutalAttack
As far as biologists are concerned (I am one also), the cougars NA range typically doesn't include those states you mentioned. However, it is possible that one could have wandered down from WI, MI, or PA. I have my serious doubts however. This has been an ongoing controversy for several years and there has yet to be any verifiable evidence such as a carcass or high quality photograph, despite the efforts of a number of interested individuals. The best thing to do would be to check with your local state wildlife agency.
The scientific community has developed a reputation over the past 20-30 years for being inaccurate, deceitful and down right dishonest when things come up that they have no easy answers for. If one of their own doesn't confirm something they have a tendency to pooh-pooh all other evedence, anecdotal or otherwise and tell people that something doesn't exist. I believe that if a population of anything exists in an area thatisn't large enough to be a breeding population, biologist have a tendency to ignore it and state that it just isn't there. Plaster casts of prints are either called inconclusive or useless, photos are nearly always of too poor a quality to determine the species. The list of excuses goes on and on. There is always the old "Escaped from captivity or turned loose by owner" story too. Just because an animal may have escaped or been turned loose, does not alter the fact that it is present in an area. Breeding populations of native animals get the interest and funds for studies and management and all others are relegated to the nuisance category. You ask for verifiable evidence such as a carcass or skeletal remains, anybody that spends any time in the woods knows that carcasses of even animals that are common to an area, such as deer, are not something you walk up on every time you go out. Nature has a way of having this evidence removed in a fairly short time in most instances, including bones and skulls. All of North America, well into Canada, Central America and South America were the range of the Mountain Lion at one time, why it is so difficult for the Scientific community to accept the existance of these animals, in whatever numbers, today in areas that offer even minimal habitat is beyond comprehension.