wrote in message
...

stuff snipped

No other outlets or switches are on that circuit. This is in a 16 yo
structure. My guess is that pressure of one of staples attaching wiring to
stud finally touched hot wire, caused heating & hot wire finally broke.

Unless a total idiot did the wiring. that possibility is about 1 in
a million.

Agreed. Highly unlikely with the wiring and staples I've seen used. I'd
de-engerize the circuit and break out the fox and hound tester to try to
determine where the wires actually go. Then, as trader suggested, I'd look
for bad backstabs. Then I'd look for bad junction boxes.

I'd also use a standard $5 plug-in outlet tester on the circuit while
energized to see if there's an open neutral or hot. As a last resort I'd
suspect that the circuit breaker has failed and might swap it out to test it
with an ohm meter or a known good device. I found it very useful to have
spare breakers for the panel in the most common ratings since breakers
always seem to fail when HomeDepot is closed. g

I do find it odd that one breaker is powering only one outlet. That's
fairly uncommon in my experience.

--
Bobby G.