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Jake Nichols

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It's the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show With Jake. Weekday mornings 6 - 10 a.m.

[{"type":"text","text":"Catch up with the show on your favorite podcast platform!"}]

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

<title>Morning Show with Jake — Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Jake in the 307. Weekday mornings 6-10 a.m.

Morning Show with Jake — Wednesday, December 11, 2024

 It's the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show With Jake. Weekday mornings 6 - 10 a.m. Catch up with the show on your favorite podcast platform! 

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, June 25th.  I’m Mac Watson

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–"}]

Wyoming congressional candidate Reid Rasner, who works as a financial advisor, was “discharged” from his broker clearinghouse company in late April. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the dismissal was based on allegations that Rasner “engaged in unapproved outside business activity,” federal filings say.

“Rasner had been with LPL Financial for like nine years, and he, he did run for Senate in 2024 not not successfully against Barrasso, and then in 2025 was being very public about a hope to purchase TikTok, that didn't pan out, but then this year he's been running for US House, the seat that Representative Hageman is vacating.  So, the LPL discharged him in late April, that would have been several months after he, that would have been months after he declared for office, a few weeks after his campaign finance reports came out, and several months after the TikTok deal kind of fizzled.”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) profile of Rasner says he was registered previously as a broker “and is currently registered as an investment advisor.” The profile also states that he’s held state registrations in New York and Wyoming.

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

An armed female suspect surrendered to law enforcement after a multi-hour standoff on Cody's south side Wednesday afternoon. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the woman was arrested and charged with criminal trespass, property destruction, and interference with a police officer.

“So, the Cody Police Department responded to a call of an unauthorized entry in an unoccupied Cody home around noon on Wednesday, and they found a female suspect who barricaded herself inside that home with a firearm. The standoff lasted around five hours, and then the suspect was arrested. The suspect surrendered and was arrested without incidents, and there were no reported injuries. 41-year-old Dawn Blaycock has been charged with multiple offenses.”

Blaylock is currently being held in the Park County Detention Center.

A Sheridan rancher says an “asinine, stupid” outhouse crackdown is pushing Amish families out of the Hulett area. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that rancher Pepper Fipps says landowners were threatened with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with outhouse regulations.

“This controversy goes back to 2024 when a wastewater specialist with Crook County discovered what he considered to be an illegal outhouse on an Amish owned property, Pepper Thips is calling it government overreach and saying they're after money, and it's all about making a buck. County commissioners are saying it's about environmental quality and making sure that our groundwater is not polluted by illegally made out houses that have no, you know, no protections from the wider world, so to speak.”

Fipps tells Cowboy State Daily that about 40 Amish families live in the Hulett area. Founded in 2011, the Hulett Amish settlement is one of five in Wyoming.

A Johnson County judge ruled that anything Wyoming state Rep. Bill Allemand said while handcuffed for 12 minutes during a DUI traffic stop can’t be used as direct evidence against him. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that’s because his arresting deputy failed to give Allemand his Miranda rights.

“He was not free to leave, he was handcuffed for 12 minutes. Originally, it was for a good idea, they saw a gun on the seat, they were worried about officer safety, they detained him so they could take care of the gun, but he stayed handcuffed, and the deputy was asking him questions, and so the judge was like, look, you can't, you can't keep for your main case any potentially incriminating stuff that he said while you're questioning him while he was in custody and hadn't been warned against incriminating himself. It benefits Aleman by whittling the main evidence that the state can bring against him.”

Allemand, a Republican state representative of the Mills area, 

, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Johnson County – one day after a Buffalo traffic stop just off Interstate 25.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–  "}]

Five young Arapaho braves snuck off from Fort Robinson 150 years ago this week and fought the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn, where General Custer met his demise. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that two of the braves later told their story to actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, Tim McCoy.

“These five Arapaho men were not supposed to be where they were, and they were actually captured by the Sioux, and one thing led to another, and next thing you know, the Arapahoes, these five young men are part of the battle against Custer. The two bucks, as they refer to themselves, actually saw Custer during this battle. Left Hand saw him standing and shooting into the Indians with his pistols. Waterman, when he saw Custer, Custer was on all fours on the ground, bleeding out of his mouth with a wound in his side, and Waterman must have been impacted by it, because what he said he saw was Custer watching the Indians – silent, just watching them. This battle took place 150 years ago today, and there were no prisoners taken, because the philosophy of the Indians was that  you had two choices: you either fight or you die. There was no such thing as surrender.”

They have been dubbed by historians as the Arapaho Five, warriors who found themselves fighting against General Custer 150 years ago. Their names were Left Hand, Yellow Eagle, Yellow Fly, Water Man, and Sage.

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

Colorado wildlife agents are trying to determine why a black bear attacked a woman on a hiking trail in Denver and then followed her for 30 minutes despite her shouting and throwing rocks at it. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that the woman who took video of the encounter said it was “circling her.”

“At one point, a couple other hikers joined her because they heard the ruckus, and also started yelling at the bear, and it still wouldn't leave. Eventually the bear wandered off down another leg of the trail, and apparently started following other hikers. So I reached out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and they said they don't think that this would qualify as what they would call a predatory incident with the bear.”

The consensus among bear biologists is that while grizzlies are more likely to attack humans, black bears are more likely to attack in a purely predatory manner.

A Casper teen accused of attacking his mother led police to a hidden cache of stolen firearms and credit cards tucked behind a secret wall in his bedroom. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that court documents paint a picture of a family dispute that escalated into a foot chase through Casper neighborhoods .

“They went into his room, where they found about four stolen pistols. There is a fifth pistol they found that they also believe was stolen, but that's not confirmed yet. So, he is facing at least four felonies for these stolen guns. His mother said that earlier she had seen a credit card skimmer or a scanner. They did not find it that day, however, they did find several credit cards, so there may be further charges in the future. I spoke to the Natrona County Prosecutor, Dan Itson, and he said this 17-year old will be charged as an adult.”

Honor Jason Wickert, 17, appeared Tuesday afternoon in Natrona County Circuit Court, where he was formally charged with four felonies and several misdemeanors, including interference, domestic battery, carrying a concealed weapon, and being a minor in possession of tobacco products. 

The owner of a Wyoming sanitation company said it's not worth it to jump in a vault toilet to retrieve sunglasses like a man in California did last week. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Adam Fink, owner of Laird Sanitation says nothing besides a family heirloom is worth diving into a vault toilet. 

“Vault toilets can be anywhere from three to 10 feet deep, and a lot of them, they don't use water, but they might be filled with the chemicals that you find in Port-a-johns, so if you go in there, you might be floating once you're in there, because it might be so deep you won't be able to touch the ground.”

The incident occurred June 20th at Camp Edison on the Sierra National Forest, northeast of Fresno and according to media reports, the unidentified man trying to recover his sunglasses was stuck inside for about 15 minutes before being rescued.

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

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 6 25 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Thursday, June 25, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Thursday's headlines include:
* Armed Standoff In Cody
* Reid Rasner Fired By Company
* It’s Not A Good Idea To Jump In Outhouse

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Thursday, June 25, 2026

Daily Cartoon

Cartoon 2 6 25 26

<title>Daily Cartoon 2: Thursday, June 25, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 2: Thursday, June 25, 2026

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Around Wyoming

A dispute over primitive outhouses on Amish-owned property in Crook County has prompted claims that some families are leaving northeast Wyoming’s oldest Amish community, though county officials say the issue has been resolved and was never intended to drive anyone away.

Sheridan rancher Pepper Fipps said he believes county enforcement efforts over wastewater disposal in the Hulett area have discouraged Amish families from remaining in the community.

“They wind up starting a little bit of a war,” Fipps said of the commissioners. “The community is dwindling.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Crook County Commission vice chairman Bob Latham disputes that."}]

“It’s all settled now. Everything is fixed,” Latham told Cowboy State Daily.

An estate moving sale earlier this month was held for two Amish families — Abe and Elizabeth Yoder and Rudy and Irene Borntreger. Records show Abe Yoder was among the landowners involved in the wastewater dispute.

About 40 Amish families live in the Hulett area, Fipps said. Founded in 2011, the Hulett Amish settlement is one of five in Wyoming.

Cowboy State Daily attempted to contact the families but did not receive responses before publication. Amish communities have traditionally relied on the U.S. mail for communication, and many members do not use cell phones or email.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sanitation Concerns"}]

The issue surfaced in October 2024, when Crook County officials learned some Amish landowners west of Hulett had dug pits to use as toilets without obtaining permits.

Crook County wastewater specialist Caleb Peters informed commissioners that Yoder had installed outhouses that did not comply with county regulations, according to reporting by the Sundance Times.

Latham said a hole in the ground used to collect human waste is considered an illegal outhouse because it poses a risk to groundwater.

Commissioners scheduled a hearing in January 2025, expecting Yoder to attend and discuss the matter, but he did not appear, according to the Times.

Peters and county planning director Tim Lyons determined conditions at some properties presented health concerns after observing graywater and blackwater drainage. The Times reported Peters found a chicken with its head inside blackwater drainage at one residence, along with what he described as an odor of rot. At another property, he reportedly discovered an abandoned outhouse occupied by animals.

Latham said county code requires human-waste receptacles to be portable, pumpable or connected to a septic system.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Fines Levied"}]

Fipps contends county officials threatened landowners with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with regulations.

He called the county’s rule about illegal outhouses “asinine, stupid."

“It is baffling to me because I haven’t ever seen an outhouse blow up,” he said, noting Amish families typically live on 160-acre parcels well away from town.

[{"type":"text","text":"Latham said fines were never a part of the county’s solution."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“To my knowledge, we never imposed fines,” he said."}]

Due to the challenge of communicating with Amish residents, County Attorney Joe Baron mailed letters to the landowners, Latham said. Peters also visited properties in person several times, he added.

“Some didn't want to talk to him,” Latham said. “Some did and were very cordial. The ones who didn't found out we're not going to quit, because it's about health and safety. It's something we take very seriously.”

After being notified of the violations, some landowners installed vault toilets that comply with county requirements, he said.

He credited Peters’ persistence with resolving the issue. 

“Caleb did a heck of a job of staying on it and getting things corrected,” Latham said. “Sometimes they feel like they can follow a different path. It was a lot of education and a lot of back-and-forth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Government Overreach Or Public Health?"}]

Fipps said he believes the county's response amounted to government overreach.

Latham disagrees, saying Crook County is obligated to enforce regulations consistent with standards established by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

“Every time we have to knuckle down and say, 'This isn't right', we hear that,” he said. “We could have been a lot meaner about it. It was mainly getting an understanding of what the laws are.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Our biggest thing with that deal is their health and safety.” "}]

According to the Young Center at Elizabethtown College, Crook County is home to Wyoming's largest Amish settlement. The state's Amish population numbers roughly 500 people spread among five settlements.

[{"type":"text","text":"Smaller settlements have since formed near Newcastle, Buffalo and Powell."}]

“I've known them my whole life,” Fipps said of the Hulett settlement. “I've traded horses with them and done business with them.”

Outhouse 2 6 24 26

<title>Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Sheridan rancher says an "asinine, stupid" outhouse crackdown is pushing Amish families out of the Hulett area. He said landowners were threatened with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with outhouse regulations.

Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Public Lands

Another hydrothermal explosion has rocked Yellowstone National Park, only 100 feet from the pool that 

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory confirmed that a hydrothermal explosion occurred around 5:09 a.m. June 13. When geologists went to evaluate the area the next day, they found a 21-foot-wide pool filled with boiling, silty water, a 60-foot fissure, and water spouting 30 feet into the air.

It was an unexpectedly dynamic event in Biscuit Basin, which has been closed since a similar explosion occurred at nearby Black Diamond Pool in July 2024.

“Black Diamond doesn't seem to have been affected by this event in a major way,” Mike Poland, scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told Cowboy State Daily. “That’s a sign that these are very shallow events that impact individual features in a very explosive thermal basin.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big Blow Up"}]

The observatory detected the explosion as soon as it happened. It was even captured on the camera installed in Biscuit Basin to monitor Black Diamond Pool.

When geologists got to the basin the next day, they found several significant changes. For one thing, there was the new 21-foot-wide crater filled with boiling water, which Poland wasn’t surprised to see.

“That’s pretty standard for Biscuit Basin,” he said. “It has a lot of high-temperature water.”

What was more surprising was a 60-foot-long fissure and several new vents.

“All of these vents were draining water into the Firehole River, and geologists found near-boiling waters in most of these vents,” Poland said. “They were draining enough water that the river itself turned a milky-white color for many miles downstream.”

Based on the scene, Poland said the event was a “relatively small” hydrothermal explosion. It occurred in an area with no existing thermal features.

After weeks of observation, the water-filled crater has shown some geyser-like behavior. Water was seen rising as high as 30 feet.

Poland was interested in the longevity of this behavior and all the new features in Biscuit Basin. It’s too early to say whether they’ll be long-lived or peter out over time.

“It’s completely unknown at this point,” he said. “Maybe that (spouting) was caused by a release of the pressure accumulated beneath the surface, or maybe this new pool will end up being a geyser-like feature. Clearly, there was a lot that went on the morning of June 13.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Predicting The Unpredictable"}]

Hydrothermal explosions are caused by water rapidly converting to steam. The rapid phase change from liquid to gas releases an enormous amount of energy, as evidenced by the incident at Black Diamond Pool on July 23, 2024.

“It’s a pressure-cooker situation,” Poland said. "When water turns to steam, it expands over 1,000 times. When that happens in a confined space, the space can't hold the rapid expansion of steam and can cause explosions.”

Biscuit Basin has been closed to the public since that day, but sophisticated equipment has been installed so geologists can monitor ongoing activity. Black Diamond Pool has 

 since then, but nothing as significant as the July 2024 event.

wasn’t significant by Yellowstone standards

, Poland is excited about what can be learned from it. It might help him and other geologists, hydrologists, and volcanologists predict the unpredictable.

“One of the problems with studying these explosions is that you really don't know where they're going to occur,” he said. “If you put out a monitoring station, you’re never guaranteed to catch an explosion, and we don’t know of any precursors that might indicate an explosion is imminent.”

This hydrothermal explosion occurred 400 feet from temperature sensors and sophisticated stations installed to monitor seismic and acoustic activity in Biscuit Basin. With this event and “a year’s worth of data,” Poland hopes they might find a potential precursor.

“This explosion happened in the middle of an area of dense monitoring, he said. “We've got an opportunity to dive into all of those data sets and see if there was some change in the system that was detected by the seismic and acoustic monitoring.”

Identifying a precursor to hydrothermal explosions will help keep people safe in Yellowstone and around the world, Poland said. It could inform scientists when a hydrothermal explosion is imminent, or the risk is higher based on temperature, acoustic signals, or some other change in the system.

Such a precursor isn’t known to exist, and Poland isn’t confident they’ll find one, but a prime opportunity to do so just presented itself.

“This was a pretty good situation,” he said. “We had all the monitoring instrumentation in the right place at the right time, lots of data already collected, and no one was threatened by this activity.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"It’s What’s New"}]

Since June 13, Biscuit Basin has gotten less explosive. The real question is whether any of the changes will become permanent.

According to Poland, many of the vents opened by the explosion have since dried up. The collapsed crater is still filled with boiling water, but the geyser-like behavior hasn’t been observed since June 18.

“The future of any of these features is really unknown at this point,” he said. “Will they stay boiling or gradually cool down? Was there a change in the heat emission of Biscuit Basin? Those will be the interesting questions going forward."

Meanwhile, other than what Poland described as a “subtle bubble” from the pool’s vent, Black Diamond Pool doesn’t seem to have been impacted.

Poland sees that as evidence of how Yellowstone’s thermal features coexist. While most of Yellowstone’s geysers, hot springs, and steam vents share space with other thermal features, most tend to be separate rather than part of a vast, interconnected system.

“When the 2024 explosion happened, none of the other features in Biscuit Basin changed their behavior,” he said. “This explosion happened 100 feet north of Black Diamond Pool, and it doesn't really seem to have affected it in a major way. That’s a testament to how local all these events are.”

Biscuit basin 6 23 26

<title>Explosion Creates 20-Foot Crater of Boiling Water in Yellowstone National Park | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory confirmed Tuesday that a hydrothermal explosion occurred in Yellowstone's Biscuit Basin that created a 21-foot-wide pool filled with boiling, silty water, a 60-foot fissure, and water spouting 30 feet into the air.

Explosion Creates 20-Foot Crater of Boiling Water in Yellowstone National Park

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Courts

A Colorado woman accused of rolling out of a Cheyenne fireworks store with nearly $2,000 worth of pyrotechnics — including a "State of Emergency," "Magic Dragon," and a "King Leo" — has been bound over to district court on a felony theft charge.

Sandra May Bafia, 61, waived her preliminary hearing Monday in Laramie County Circuit Court, sending the case to district court more than a year after the alleged theft.

A clerk with Laramie County District Court confirmed Tuesday an arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Bafia is next expected to appear in district court, where she will enter a plea.

The incident unfolded June 22, 2025, at Artillery World along Interstate 25 in Cheyenne, according to an affidavit filed by Larimer County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Grover. 

The store's manager, Haley Nye, called 911 to report that two women had filled a shopping cart with fireworks and headed south toward Colorado in a gray Honda Odyssey with Colorado temporary plates.

Nye told the dispatcher the females were "white females in their 40s wearing long gray cardigans," the affidavit says. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cashier Encounter"}]

Store employee Abdullah Al Habsi told investigators one of the women, later identified as Melissa Thompson, approached a register near the door and told the employee "she needed to go out to the car because her friend needed her," Grover wrote. 

Abdullah reportedly asked Thompson if she paid for the fireworks, "and she continued to tell him she needed to go to her vehicle." 

[{"type":"text","text":"The affidavit says she then walked out the door without paying. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Store employees followed."}]

Outside, employees found Bafia loading fireworks into the van, Grover wrote. 

When employee Breanna Elliott began removing fireworks from the vehicle, Bafia allegedly insisted the merchandise had been paid for and said she would produce a receipt.

[{"type":"text","text":"The situation escalated from there."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Getaway Van "}]

One person who tried to stop the suspect suffered a scraped elbow after being pushed while trying to recover the fireworks.

Another employee also reported being pushed while attempting to stop Bafia from loading fireworks into her car. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Both employees rated their pain at \"2 out of 10,\" the affidavit notes."}]

Witnesses told investigators Bafia and another woman eventually climbed into the van and drove away, leaving behind only a handful of items in the shopping cart.

According to Grover, employees reported the van accelerated through the parking lot toward several people standing nearby.

"Melissa started driving towards them at a high rate of speed," Grover wrote. "Melissa swerved and did not hit them but was approximately 10 feet away from them."

[{"type":"text","text":"The getaway was short-lived."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Jumping Jacks, Unicorns "}]

Larimer County deputies in Colorado stopped the vehicle in Wellington, where authorities recovered fireworks allegedly taken from the store.

Grover wrote that Colorado deputies later informed him that Bafia and Thompson were being arrested for possession of stolen property and narcotics.

Investigators ultimately calculated the value of the stolen fireworks at $1,908.85.

The haul allegedly included three Jumping Jacks, two Unicorns, a Magic Dragon, a USA, a Ground Bloom, two Cute Bats, seven Glow Sticks, an Amazing Para, five T Noise Makers, four Wizard Wands, 11 Neon Wands, a Mad Dog, an Ant Eater, a State of Emergency, a Space Rocket, a King Leo, three Toy Worlds and a Pyro Freak.

[{"type":"text","text":"The most expensive item was the King Leo firework, valued at $295.99."}]

Under Wyoming law, felony theft is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bafia is out of detention on a $5,000 cash bond. "}]

Firework crime 6 23 26

<title>Colorado Woman Accused of Stealing $2,000 in Fireworks, Nearly Running Over Employees | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Colorado woman, accused of stealing $2,000 worth of pyrotechnics at a fireworks dealer south of Cheyenne, is headed to district court. The 61-year-old woman allegedly drove toward store employees at a "high rate of speed" to avoid being detained.

Colorado Woman Accused of Stealing $2,000 in Fireworks, Nearly Running Over Employees

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

RIVERTON — A 33-year-old Lander man faces up to 42 years in prison and fines in connection with the Wednesday evening Riverton crash in which two people died.

Micheal Odom was already on probation for DUI, police interference, and reckless driving convictions out of Campbell County when the truck he was driving sped through Riverton’s busiest 30 mph thoroughfare at more than 75 mph, Fremont County deputy attorney James Weck told the Lander Circuit Court on Friday.

Odom, who is in custody, appeared in court for his initial hearing that afternoon.

Weck noted that besides the Campbell County convictions, Odom is also on parole for 

heft, burglary, and property destruction felonies out of Natrona County.

Friday’s filing marks his third DUI charge in five years, and Odom tried to flee the scene of the crash, Weck added. 

The prosecutor asked Lander Circuit Court Judge Jefferson Coombs to set Odom’s bond at $5 million cash-only.

Coombs warned Odom that he doesn’t have to incriminate himself, but asked if he wanted to speak about his life in response to Weck’s bond argument.

[{"type":"text","text":"Odom took that opening to apologize instead."}]

“I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said. “I’ve just been fighting addiction my whole life. I do not really know what happened or remember anything. I just apologize to the victims’ family and everything.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Coombs set Odom’s bond at $1 million, cash-only."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Scene"}]

Cowboy State Daily arrived on scene Wednesday to find a white Dodge pickup with front-end damage on its side in the middle of Riverton’s busiest thoroughfare, Federal 

About a half-block away sat the mangled remains of what eyewitnesses said had been a Jeep.

An evidentiary affidavit by Riverton Police Department Officer Jesse Francher, filed by the Fremont County Attorney’s Office, says a 23- or 24-year-old woman lay on the ground at least 20 feet away from the Jeep. 

A man that same age, the Jeep’s passenger, remained inside the vehicle, the document says.

Officers arrived on scene and pulled Odom, who was bleeding, from the pickup.

“While waiting with Odom he was worried that he was going to jail,” wrote Francher. "Odom was very agitated as if he did something wrong.

"I suspected Odom was intoxicated but was unsure if it was caused by the accident or him being under the influence.”

A Lander man faces homicide charges and up to 42 years in prison in connection with a Wednesday Riverton crash that killed two people. “I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said in court on Friday. “I’ve just been fighting addiction my whole life.”

Morning Show with Jake — Wednesday, December 11, 2024

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In case you missed it

Jake Nichols

Features Reporter

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Morning Show with Jake — Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Catch up with the show on your favorite podcast platform!

In case you missed it

Authors

Jake Nichols

Features Reporter

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