Accused of shooting up his estranged wife’s house, dragging her outside and trying to flee Wyoming with her, a Cheyenne man could face up to 55 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.
Casey Neal Johnson, who turns 24 this year, is charged with kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated assault. His case rose Thursday to the felony-level Laramie County District Court.
The investigation started May 18 at about 3:16 p.m. when Cheyenne Police Department officers were dispatched to a home on West 5th Street to learn more about a 911 hangup call from the woman who lived there, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed this month in Cheyenne Circuit Court.
Officers arrived to find the front door ajar, its glass scattered on the ground along with 9 mm shell casings, the affidavit says.
They went inside and reportedly found no one: just a cellphone sitting on the bed in the master bedroom and “numerous” bullet holes in the walls and floor.
Officers confirmed that the woman who lived in the home had an active military protection order against her husband, Casey Johnson.
They spoke with neighbors, who reportedly said they saw a man in the area acting suspicious and lingering around the woman’s home in his grey two-door Dodge Challenger at about noon that day. They allegedly heard gunshots, then saw a man dragging a woman away from the home toward the Challenger.
The Challenger sped away, at least one neighbor reportedly told police.
The Hunt
Officers went searching for the car and found it traveling south not far from the home. During a traffic stop, officers found the woman in the driver’s seat and Johnson in the front passenger seat, the document says.
When they searched the vehicle, they reportedly found a tan 9 mm Taurus firearm in the car’s glovebox with what appeared to be blood on the grip, a loaded magazine in it and an empty magazine next to it.
The gun had a bullet in the chamber, the affidavit says.
The document says Johnson admitted to being at his estranged wife’s home, firing into the glass door and cutting his hand on the broken glass.
That Afternoon
A Cheyenne Police Department detective interviewed the woman at about 4:40 that afternoon.
She told the detective that she saw Johnson outside her home when she got home that day. She parked, walked inside and shut the front door behind her, she said.
He approached the door and kept asking her to come outside and talk, but she refused, the affidavit relates.
“If you don’t open the door, you won’t be ready for what comes next,” Johnson reportedly told her, before opening fire on her home.
The document says she fled to the back of the house and into the master bedroom while Johnson broke the chain lock on her door and chased her down, pointing a tan-colored pistol to her head.
He noticed her phone in her hand, connected to 911, the affidavit relates, adding that he grabbed the phone, disconnected the call and threw the phone onto the bed.
They got into the car and headed toward Denver on Interstate 25, reportedly. The woman was driving during this trip.
At some point she convinced him to go back home, the told police. When they arrived back near the woman’s home, Cheyenne police vehicles were in the area, which would later prompt the traffic stop.
Johnson allegedly told the woman to keep driving and not stop, and to lie about what had happened to her home by saying someone broke in and that Johnson was there to save her.
The Tally
The kidnapping felony is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines as charged. The aggravated burglary charge, a violation premised on the theory that Johnson broke into a home with the intention to commit a felony inside it, carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of 25 years and $50,000 in fines. And the aggravated assault charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
The case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
