Authorities in Gillette, Wyoming, are seeking a woman they believe tried twice to get her male friend arrested on false claims that he stabbed and beat her – once while chuckling into the phone during a 911 call.
Shanessa Tanai Ute, 31, is wanted out of Campbell County on two counts of falsely reporting a crime, according to a warrant issued Thursday.
The evidentiary affidavit in her case, written by Gillette Police Detective Ryan Mussell, says Ute called police to an apartment in town at 11:58 the evening of July 28, to say that a 33-year-old man had stabbed her. At first she called the man her boyfriend; she later denied that.
In later investigations, the man called her his “homie.”
Police arrived to find Ute near a staircase on the south side of the apartment complex, bleeding from her hand. She said the man cut her after threatening her with a knife, according to the affidavit.
Going into more detail, Ute reportedly said the man grabbed a gold-bladed, serrated knife from the kitchen, threatened to kill her and pointed the knife at her.
She said she grabbed the knife blade in an instinctive gesture of defense, and slit her hand, the document says.
The affidavit says Ute also told police that the man pushed the TV and entertainment center down onto the living room floor, then fled the apartment.
But police found the man still inside the apartment, drunk and saying that it was Ute, not he, who had gone “crazy” and pulled a knife, Mussell wrote.
Authorities initially charged the man with aggravated assault and battery, and domestic battery. Together the charges are punishable by more than a decade in prison.
Eyewitness
A teenage girl came forward as an eyewitness. She said it was Ute, not the man, who had “gone crazy,” and that Ute pulled the knife and jabbed at the man’s head twice after threatening to stab him. When Ute missed his head, the knife plunged into the drywall; her hand slid down the blade and was cut, the teen told police.
The teen confirmed this account in a follow-up interview, but said she believed Ute was trying to scare the man rather than actually stab him, says the affidavit.
Victim assistance coordinators had already put Ute in a hotel for the night, believing her to be the victim of a possible aggravated assault.
Police were unable to find her when they sought her for a follow-up interview, the affidavit says.
The man was released from jail July 29 and his charges were dropped soon after.
He told a detective that he didn’t want Ute to get into trouble because she was his “homey,” and he refused to participate as the victim in an aggravated assault case for Ute’s alleged stabbing toward him.
Chuckling
Ute called police on the man again on Aug. 6, at 2:35 a.m., the document says.
An officer went to that same apartment to address her claims that the man had attacked her and was inside the apartment. When the officer looked for the man, Ute said the man had already left the area, the affidavit says.
The officer found the man asleep in a room at the Way Station, more than three miles away. When he approached the room door, the officer heard snoring, though it had only been 30 minutes since Ute’s 911 call, Mussell wrote in the affidavit.
The officer told the man Ute had reported him for going to her apartment, pushing in the door and attacking her. The man was confused and said he’d not had contact with Ute since the earlier incident.
The officer confirmed using video at the Way Station that the man did not enter or exit his room during the timeframe of the alleged attack Ute was reporting, says the affidavit.
He listened to Ute’s recorded 911 call.
“(She was) initially chuckling while reporting a domestic incident, (then) her attitude change(d),” wrote Mussell, adding that she started crying or trying to cry, while saying “stop, get away from me” and “don’t touch me” – though no scuffle was heard in the background.
The officer confronted Ute about the false report. Ute didn’t deny making the report, and told the officer, “Just give me a ticket then,” according to the affidavit.
False reporting is a misdemeanor, which means it can result in a ticket.
Authorities tried to cite her out of municipal court but realized that the wording of that law didn’t fit the conduct. Campbell County Deputy Attorney Kyle Ferris then charged her in Gillette Circuit Court instead, on Thursday.
But around Aug. 9, Ute fell out of touch with police and skipped out on a scheduled police interview, reportedly.
If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail – or six months for each charge of false reporting, plus $750 in fines on each count.
Gillette Police Deputy Chief Brent Wasson confirmed Tuesday to Cowboy State Daily that Ute is still wanted, and police do not know her whereabouts.
A boyfriend of hers in custody at the Campbell County Detention Center speculated in August that she’d gone to the Wind River Indian Reservation, the affidavit says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
