Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Golden body guards..."}]

Smile 5 15 23

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, May 15, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Golden body guards...

Daily Smile: Monday, May 15, 2023

Jen kocher

Jen Kocher

Law Enforcement

Authorities are working to unravel the mysterious deaths of a man and woman who were found in Laramie County earlier this year within three months of one another in unrelated incidents.

The first, a woman thought to be between 30 and 50 years old, was struck by a vehicle and killed on the side of Interstate 25 outside Cheyenne in late April.

The second is an unknown man found near a commercial building on South Greeley Avenue earlier this month.

Both deaths are under investigation, pending autopsy results from the Laramie County Coroner’s Office.

The fatalities were not publicly announced by authorities, but instead entered into the National Unidentified Persons System — known as NamUs — which is the country’s only centralized database for tracking missing and unidentified persons.

Although anyone with an account can enter missing people into the database, only law enforcement and those with coroners' offices can add unidentified people.

For both, distinctive tattoos could help investigators track down who they are.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Potential Assist"}]

Two NamUs entries for Wyoming in one week are unusual, say two amateur Cheyenne-based genealogists who run a pro bono company focused on reporting missing and unidentified people.

“It definitely caught our attention,” said Ashley Kroner, who along with her twin sister, Megan McWilliams, are cofounders of Genetics Uncovered.

As usual, they made posters for both John and Jane Doe, with photos of identifying tattoos added by the coroner’s office and shared on their 

Facebook page with more than 9,000 followers

The posts reached hundreds of people, potentially including members of the John Doe’s family, who contacted Kroner and stated they recognized the tattoos.

Kroner shared their information with Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid, who is responsible for making the identification, per state statute.

As of Thursday, John Doe was still listed in NamUs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mysterious Circumstances"}]

Little is known about the individuals and the circumstances under which they died.

Jane Doe was struck and killed by a vehicle at the mile marker 11 exit, potentially near the on ramp, between 8 and 9 p.m. on April 20, according to Aaron Brown, public information officer for the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Brown said troopers rendered aid to no avail, and the woman succumbed to her injuries on the scene.

Her death remains under investigation, Brown said. He declined to share any additional details, citing an active investigation, though he added no charges are pending.

The victim is described as Caucasian with shoulder-length blonde, strawberry hair and unknown eye color. She was about 5-feet-7 and weighed 136 pounds.

She had a distinct tattoo on her right hip: A cloud with three zigzag lines beneath it, a sun emerging from the cloud’s left side and a star above the sun, and two clusters of triangles running along the far left of the lines.

Along with her clothing, a black and white duffle bag was found near her body, according to the NamUs entry.

Also citing an active investigation, Reid likewise could not provide any additional information.

John Doe was found dead June 6 at the 800 block of South Greeley Highway in Cheyenne, slumped in a kneeling position alongside a commercial building, with no cellphone or other identification.

His death remains under investigation, according to Chance Walkama, chief deputy of operations for the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.

Walkama said his office is awaiting autopsy and toxicology results from Reid’s office. No foul play is currently suspected, but the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Giving Them A Name"}]

McWilliams and Kroner said they were pleased their efforts might have helped lead to the identification of the John Doe and also credited Reid for entering both Does into the national database, where the public – and family members – can see them.  

why they started Genetics Uncovered in 2021

 with the mission of locating missing people and putting names to Jane and John Does.

Both sisters have decades of experience in genealogy. McWilliams, whose husband Scott oversees the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s crime lab, taught a two-day class in forensic genetic genealogy for DCI agents and assisted the agency with a 1995 cold case in Carbon County.

McWilliams was also just accepted into an investigative genetic genealogy program starting this fall. Kroner, meanwhile, holds down a full-time job while pouring whatever hours remain into tracking down unidentified people and pushing law enforcement and coroners to enter them into NamUs.

Together, the sisters spend long stretches combing through ancestry records, burial registries such as Find A Grave, and newspaper archives, assembling family trees in hopes of giving the unidentified a name.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Success Stories"}]

This is part of their nationwide initiative, “Not Forgotten,” to track down unidentified people and get them entered into NamUs.

Once in the database, not only can law enforcement cross-check for missing people, but it also allows family members to provide DNA for possible identification should remains be found.

Without this database, there’s no central repository for law enforcement and families to find these individuals, many of whom have been reported missing.

They admit it’s an ambitious undertaking, but they have since recruited six volunteers to help tackle the vast territory, which they’ve broken down into geographic areas.

Between the eight of them, they have most of the country covered, but they still need volunteers in two areas: California, which is its own region, and a southern stretch comprising Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

[{"type":"text","text":"The work is paying off, they say."}]

To date, they’ve worked with law-enforcement agencies and coroner offices around the country to enter 35 new Does into NamUs.

Of those, at least one has been identified. In January 2026, authorities in Washington state positively identified the remains of a former mayor, Clarence Edwin Asher, 

who drowned while crabbing in an Oregon bay in 2006

The twins successfully added into the database in March 2025, making that identification possible.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Many More"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"There are hundreds more still to be located in Wyoming and beyond.  "}]

More than 15,000 unidentified individuals are listed the NamUs database, Kroner said, but she believes that number is much higher.

Along with the two latest entries, Wyoming has nine unidentified people listed in NamUs dating to 1977, including two of the sisters’ personal favorites, whom they’ve affectionately dubbed 

“Motel Mike” and “Pine Bluffs Pete.”

“Mike” died of an overdose in a Cheyenne motel in April 1977.  “Pete,” a transient, was hit by a train while attempting to cross tracks in 1996.

Both men remain unidentified, but at least they’ve since been listed in the database, McWilliams said.

There are likely several more. To date, the sisters have located four unidentified people in Wyoming dating to the late 1800s.

The challenge lies in determining how far back law enforcement and coroners are willing to go — at what point a case becomes too old to be worth opening. Knowing many agencies are understaffed and overworked, the sisters try to be thoughtful about which cases they bring forward.

Technically, the oldest case in NamUs is from 1915, but they’ve found even older unidentified people in Wyoming.

Their oldest case is a 35-year-old man who died near Cooper Lake in Albany County in March 1899.

A John Doe died in a Laramie railroad yard in 1908 and another was killed in a train accident in Sheridan County in 1910. A John Doe from Natrona County died in 1921.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Trains And Drownings"}]

As the sisters have learned, train deaths were common back in the day. So were drownings.

Many were transients just passing through foreign places where they met their demise – far away from family and friends, who had for whatever reasons lost track of them.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sometimes they get lucky and find accompanying news articles."}]

It’s the stories that get you, both sisters agreed. That’s where their hearts catch, in the space between life and data.

They shared a news clip about the last man killed by the train in Natrona County in 1932.

He’d been standing at the west end of the Platte River bridge outside Casper when a Chicago and North Western train out of Lander hit him, hurling him down a 10-foot embankment to his instant death.

[{"type":"text","text":"He bore no identification except a hat with the initials “J.T.M.”"}]

The train engineer told authorities he had blown the whistle repeatedly. The man never moved.

Boys swimming in the river below likewise had tried to warn him. Again, he kept walking without so much as a glance backward.  

Later, authorities concluded that he was likely deaf and never saw it coming.

Worse, those who loved him hadn’t even known he died, and still don’t because he has not yet been entered into NamUs.

It’s stories like these that make this work meaningful for the twins and compels them to continue on behalf of the missing and unidentified, 

including the two recent Does in Cheyenne.

“They don’t have a voice,” Kroner said. “I want to be that voice.”

John and Jane Doe 1 6 27 26

<title>Who Are John And Jane Doe? Twin Genealogists Hope Tattoos Can ID Cheyenne Bodies | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Twin genealogists are working to identify a John and Jane Doe found two months apart in Cheyenne earlier this year. “They don’t have a voice,” the sisters said, “but their distinctive tattoos could help investigators track down who they are.”

Who Are John And Jane Doe? Twin Genealogists Hope Tattoos Can ID Cheyenne Bodies

You Still Here

He tried to get away. He failed, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman....

Inman 6 27 26

<title>Steve Inman: Saturday, June 27, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Steve Inman: Saturday, June 27, 2026

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Hunting

Wyoming is frequently called “the antelope capital of the world,” but with this year’s hunting tag results many hunters aren’t feeling it.

When the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced draw results earlier this month, hunters’ social media forums started lighting up with comments like, “I struck out on antelope.”

For many resident hunters, the yearly ritual of entering the antelope draw once was essentially a formality. Hunters practically considered it a guarantee.  

That’s changed, and possibly for good, some seasoned Wyoming antelope hunters said.

Guy Eastman of Cody put in for a tag in Hunt Area 61, near Wamsutter, and didn’t draw.

Granted, that’s always been a tough tag to get because it’s in highly coveted hunting territory, said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the famous outdoor multimedia family.

"That’s the heart of Carbon County. That’s the number one county in the country for big antelope,” he said.

However, it is his fourth year in a row of striking out, which he views as unusual.

And it seems to be the same story across the hunting community, Eastman said.

“I don’t know anybody who drew a good antelope tag in my network of people,” he said. "I didn’t draw anything. Nor antelope, no deer, no elk. Not a darn thing.” 

Larry Hicks has hunted Wyoming antelope for decades. And as a state senator and conservationist, he’s been involved in wildlife policy issues.

This year, he applied for an antelope tag in Hunt Area 68, which he didn’t draw.

Area 68 is a highly desirable hunt area that runs from Jeffrey City to the north side of the Ferris Mountains.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Putting In For The Draw"}]

Wyoming offers both limited quota and general hunting tags for deer and elk. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Antelope tags are limited quota only."}]

General tags may be purchased over-the-counter at any time.

Hunters must apply and pay for limited quota tags in advance, usually in May. Those who don’t draw tags have their money refunded, minus an application fee.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Resident antelope tags cost $37."}]

Non-resident tags cost $326 for the regular non-resident draw and $1,200 for the special first-round non-resident draw.

When applying for tags, hunters list their first-, second- and third-choice hunt areas.

The draw system is set up so residents “don’t compete” directly with non-residents for tags because non-resident tag allocations percentages are pre-set, Hicks said.

The pricey special non-resident draw has much better odds than the regular non-resident draw, but there’s still no guarantee of getting a tag, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Winterkill And Drought"}]

Many hunt areas in Fremont, Carbon, Sublette and Carbon counties are considered the best of the best, and were always difficult to draw tags, Hicks noted.

Even so, draw odds have dropped, mostly because herds in those areas are still recovering from devastating losses during the harsh winter of 2022-2023.

"We’re down tens of thousands of antelope, and a lot of those are in the premier areas across south-central Wyoming,” Hicks said.

And fewer antelope means Game and Fish will issue fewer tags.

“The drawing odds have gone to heck (in some hunt areas) because there are no tags,” Hicks said.

Some areas that might have had as many as 200 antelope tags a few years ago had only 25 resident tags this year, he said.

It could take up to eight years for antelope herds to recover from the devastating winterkill losses, “and we’re about three years in,” he said.

And current drought conditions could hamper the recovery, Hicks said.

“I worry about antelope fawn survival rates this summer in dry conditions,” he said. “If it gets too dry, the does will quit lactating in August, and the fawns will die.”

While numbers might be down in parts of Wyoming, the demand for tags isn’t.

Eastman noted that in years past, the number of first-choice applicants for Type 1 (any antelope) tags in Area 61 was about 500. This year, there were close to 600 applicants for 89 available Type 1 resident tags. And there were 183 second-choice and applicants and 106 third-choice applicants.

The situation was similar in other hunt areas, according to 

Hunt Area 53, in south Carbon County, had seven resident Type 1 Tags available. There were 169 first-choice applicants, 127 second-choice and 111 third-choice.  

Area 72, in central Natrona County, had a comparatively generous supply of 616 Type 1 resident tags, which were first-choice for 955 applicants, along with 364 for second-choice and 140 third-choice applicants.   

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Willing To Pay The Price"}]

Dax McCarty runs the Douglas-Based Wagonhound Outfitters. Most of his guided antelope hunts are in Area 30 near Douglas.

Herds in that part of Wyoming didn’t suffer as badly during the 2022-2023 winter.

“In the areas where we hunt, the population has stayed steady,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

His clients had good luck drawing tags this year, he said, even though the overall trend has been toward longer odds.

“The antelope draw has been getting a little bit tougher, but draws have been getting tougher for everything because of the increase in demand,” McCarty said.

The guided hunts he offers are mostly on private land and offer a good balance of abundant opportunity and high-quality trophy bucks, he said.

Non-resident clients can gain an edge in the draws by accumulating preference points.

He recommends that those with fewer preference points pay the extra money to put in for the special non-resident tag draw.

Because Wyoming has such a stellar reputation for antelope hunting, “they’re will to pay for that special draw,” McCarty said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Hunters Moving In"}]

Eastman said he expects the competition to increase for hunting tags across the board.

Because of his presence in hunting media, “I talk to a lot of hunters from all over the country,” he said. 

He’s found that increasingly, hunters are moving to Wyoming to gain resident status.

A person must live in Wyoming for a full calendar year to qualify for resident hunting tags.

On paper, Wyoming’s population growth seems small, but Eastman noted a high percentage of newcomers coming primarily because of the hunting and angling.

“More people have the opportunity to work remotely. And if they’re sick of putting in for the non-resident tag draws, they think, ‘If I’m going to work remote, I’m going to move to Wyoming and hunt as a resident',” he said.

“The holes that’s left in Wyoming’s population by people who die or move out is being filled by people who come here to recreate, hunt and fish,” Eastman said.

Even so, Wyoming will remain one of the best states for hunters, he added.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. There’s still good hunting in Wyoming,” he said.

“The good thing is, Wyoming has enough public and enough rough country” to keep hunters from crowding out each other, he said.

Pronghorn 6 26 26

<title>With Antelope Numbers Still Down, This Year’s Tag Draw Dismal For Many Hunters | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming hunters who didn’t draw antelope tags this year aren't alone. “I don’t know anybody who drew a good antelope tag,” said prominent outdoorsman Guy Eastman. They blame the winter of 2022-2023, which devastated antelope populations.

With Antelope Numbers Still Down, This Year’s Tag Draw Dismal For Many Hunters

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday released body camera video 

of the Dec. 28 DUI arrest of state Rep. Bill Allemand in response to a Cowboy State Daily request.

Cowboy State Daily had viewed about 18 minutes of the body camera video in Buffalo Circuit Court at a March 

 hearing, but Friday’s release spans roughly one hour over the course of Allemand’s 

 and jail booking in Buffalo just after midday Dec. 28. 

It omits a recitation of Allemand's driver's license number, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office said in an email. 

The video shows Allemand, a Republican representative from Midwest, Wyoming, arguing with Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Campbell.

Allemand voices disagreement about whether Campbell had grounds for the initial traffic stop. Allemand develops a more adversarial stance toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an “asshole” and saying he’s not a good person.  

“I don’t know why you would say that,” says Campbell. “I thought I was pretty respectful.”

Allemand offers to pay for the deputy’s gas at a fuel stop on the way to jail. He informs the deputy he’s a legislator.

Once in jail, Allemand emphasizes that he has an “Honor Wyoming” 

 — a reference to the Honor Wyoming political group that has 

[{"type":"text","text":"He also jokes with the booking deputies."}]

While getting his booking photo taken, Allemand muses, “Wow! This is going to be on Cowboy State Daily. You can sell these pictures to Cowboy State Daily, probably for a million dollars.”

The booking deputy jokes, “K, well, we’ll try. I’ll split it with you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t want none of it,” Allemand answers."}]

Booking photos from Johnson County and across the state are free 

[{"type":"text","text":"Why So Colorful?"}]

Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that Allemand was likely growing frustrated with the deputy because he thought he was

Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Jeremy Kisling 

 that Campbell had enough evidence for the initial traffic stop and to continue the traffic stop.

The Johnson County Attorney’s Office can use several minutes worth of evidence from the stop, which include Allemand 

failing his field sobriety tests, swaying, stumbling, and slurring his speech.

But prosecutors can’t use as direct evidence the potentially incriminating things Allemand said during a 12-minute stretch where he was detained in handcuffs, but hadn’t been read his Miranda rights, Kisling ruled.

Campbell had stopped Allemand on claims that after stopping at a stop sign just off Interstate 25, Allemand lurched forward, nearly hit another vehicle, then stopped abruptly.

This, coupled with the evidence that Allemand was the subject of a drunk driving report by another driver on the Interstate near Buffalo, made for enough evidence to justify Campbell’s stop, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"Vang said he still believes Kisling got the evidence question wrong."}]

“Here’s the big deal,” said Vang. “The cop never claimed he saw any type of a traffic violation except for Mr. Allemand allegedly running a stop sign.”

Vang said the dash camera recording “clearly shows Mr. Allemand never makes any driving infraction. He comes to a complete stop like he’s supposed to, just as he’s turning off the interstate.”

The dash camera video of the contested stop, played at the March hearing, is grainy and inconclusive.

As a car approaches from the left, said Vang, “it was obscured from his view.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand stopped to avoid hitting it."}]

“That deputy lacks the skills to properly do a DUI investigation,” said Vang.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a late-day Friday request for a response to that.

Allemand is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 16. That’s a month after the heated Republican 

 he’s now waging against Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer, set for Aug. 18.

Elected in 2022, Allemand is in his second term in the state House of Representatives. He's also a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of populist-leaning House Republicans. 

[{"type":"text","text":"From The Beginning Now"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The body camera video projects the view from Campbell’s torso forward."}]

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday released body camera video of state Rep. Bill Allemand's December DUI arrest. Allemand grew more adversarial toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an "asshole." 

Daily Smile: Monday, May 15, 2023

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