The missing woman swept up in an icy car chase outside Laramie, Wyoming, after Thanksgiving said she was not being trafficked, despite her concerning circumstances. She reported she was just “in love,” the Laramie Police Department told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
A caller reported a concern to Laramie police the evening of Nov. 24, saying a vehicle with no headlights on had dropped off a “skinny” female to wander the Petro Truck Stop on West Curtis Street.
As officers investigated, they learned the woman, Libby Lambson, 21, was in a national missing-persons database and had disappeared from a Utah town.
They also found it noteworthy that the man Lambson was with, Travis Wood, was 26 years older than she.
“So, she wasn’t being human-trafficked whatsoever,” Lt. Ryan Thompson, of the Laramie Police Department, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “They initially suspected that, but we talked to her afterward and they’re dating, I guess you could say.”
The pair were staying at the Petro Truck Stop in their car and “everyone was suspicious because one or both of them kept walking in and out of the building,” Thompson said.
Police interviewed Lambson at the jail after her arrest on police interference and drug possession charges.
“She was like, ‘Nope, not human-trafficked. I’m in love with the guy,’” Thompson related.
Lambson told police the pair were married, perhaps believing they have a common-law marriage. But they are not legally married, Thompson said.
The lieutenant said the pair reportedly met when Wood got out of prison and started staying with Lambson’s mom, who was his friend.
Wood had been convicted two decades ago of aggravated kidnapping and is listed as sexually violent, his court file says.
Both In Jail
Like Wood, Lambson is in jail in Albany County.
Police arrested both after Wood allegedly fled during police questioning at the truck stop. Court documents say Wood led Laramie Police officers, Albany County Sheriff’s deputies and Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers on a car chase between Laramie and Medicine Bow. That was during freezing fog and snowy conditions a day after a massive Thanksgiving snowstorm.
Law enforcement personnel stripped Wood’s wheels with a spike strip, then got him to stop.
Wood faces potential decades in prison on suspicion of felony eluding, aggravated assault and numerous other charges stemming from the car chase.
Sharp Elbow
Lambson was combative with police starting with the initial questioning. Then she elbowed LPD Officer Evan Kamerer in the face after the car chase while he tried to handcuff her, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in her case.
Kamerer is OK, Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
The affidavit says Lambson kept fighting officers as they arrested her, but they succeeded in the end.
Albany County Supervisor Sgt. Daran Olaveson took Lambson to the jail and in the process, discovered a small yellow Ziploc bag with a bit of green leafy substance in it, the affidavit says.
“She later admitted (it) … was marijuana,” the affidavit says.
Lambson’s case ascended to the felony-level Albany County District Court on Dec. 6.
She faces three charges:
- Felony interference with police (punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines).
- A misdemeanor version of police interference (up to one year and $1,000).
- Misdemeanor marijuana possession (up to one year and $1,000).
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
