Daily Cartoon

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

<title>Daily Cartoon 2: Friday, March 7, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 2: Friday, March 7, 2025

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Wildlife

Summer is Wyoming’s season for turning over rocks, poking into holes and walking with a perpetual hunch looking for snakes.

Herpalogists, the zoologists who study amphibians and reptiles, are out scouring the landscape and herping, the term used when they are actively flipping rocks and searching stream beds to find Wyoming's elusive snakes in their native habitats.

Sometimes those finds can be unexpected. The fork-tongued reptiles appear on a trail when least expected. 

Recently, a foot-long “nightcrawler” suddenly moved like a snake and slithered into the rocks, its tail disappearing into the shadows. Rather than a shapeshifter, this was an elusive rubber boa, Wyoming’s tiny constrictor snake that can look like a giant worm at first glance.

These rarely seen creatures are more common in the Cowboy State than most people realize.

“I personally don't feel that any of our snakes in Wyoming are terribly rare,” said Matt Rasmussen, vice president of the 

. “However, a lot of them are very rarely encountered because they spend most of their lives either underground or under rocks.”

Rasmussen said most of the secretive snakes in Wyoming only come out at night or when conditions are right — typically warmer, humid times. The rubber boa, for instance, showed up on a day when it had rained and then the temperatures spiked hot.

Rasmussen helped found the new Herpetological Society two years ago to teach others to herp. He said it’s possible to learn more about our state by flipping rocks and seeing what is beneath.

“That's the great thing with Wyoming,” Rasmussen said. “There is so little known about the herpetofauna — the frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, etcetera — that live here, and so little known about their distribution.”

He said Wyoming is known for “large charismatic megafauna” such as bison, elk, moose and deer rather than the harder to find animals. As a result, no widespread surveying has been done on smaller non-game species. Wyoming Game and Fish has even asked for community members to help by reporting  rarely seen reptiles and amphibians.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Elusive, Not Rare"}]

While most people think of the more common bullsnake or venomous rattlesnake when discussing reptiles, Rasmussen said Wyoming is home to many harmless snakes.

According to Rasmussen, a few snakes, such as the colorful pale milk snake and rubber boa, could be considered rare in Wyoming. However, he believes they are just harder to find and most people are not aware of them unless they stumble across them.

“There’s the plains black-headed snake, which we really don't know much about their distribution in Wyoming,” Rasmussen said. “They're just not studied and have a limited habitat.”

This tan snake with a black head is small and feeds primarily on centipedes and ant eggs. Rasmussen cautions that when found, rather than kill the strange looking snakes that are harmless, report finding them to Wyoming Game and Fish and leave them in their habitat.

In this way, Rasmussen said, herping can be fun. He encourages people to get into the action.

“There are some other really small fossorial snakes like smooth green snakes, which live along creeks in the mountains and eat caterpillars and spiders,” Rasmussen said. “Then there's the Black Hills red-bellied snake, which is a very small snake that eats slugs, worms and snails primarily.”

People are often surprised that Wyoming is home to such a large variety of snakes. He especially likes to show off a milk snake, which is harmless and eats lizards and even baby rattlesnakes.

“It is a beautiful, almost tropical-looking animal that lives right here,” Rasmussen said. “They are just rarely encountered.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A New Snake & Frog Society"}]

Rasmussen said the new society is trying to educate the community about these fascinating creatures in the Cowboy State that don't get much attention, such as the skink, a short-legged lizard. 

“We're a group of herpetological enthusiasts who would like to spread the word, educate and do outreach about these animals,” he said.

This outreach includes presentations with live animals, field trips and a conference in November. Wyoming’s reptiles and amphibians remain a mystery, Rasmussen encourages reporting sightings on the app 

“Even if you don't know what it is, post a picture because there are tens of thousands of experts who will identify that animal,” Rasmussen said. “That's really important, especially for our herpetofauna in the state.”

He also pointed out that some Wyoming snakes are on the protected list, including the midget faded rattlesnake. They made the list, according to Rasmussen, because people were capturing them and they became popular in among owners who like to keep small venomous snakes as pets.

Rasmussen said awareness is the best protection for Wyoming’s elusive reptiles and he is excited to prove to residents that we don’t have rare snakes, only secretive ones.

Snakes of Wyoming 6 27 26

<title>Many Of Wyoming’s Seldom-Seen Snakes Aren’t That Rare, They Just Like To Hide | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming's bright orange pale milk snake, rubber boa and plains black-headed snake are elusive, but not as rare as most people think — they just like to hide. Most of the state's secretive snakes only come out at night or when conditions are right.

Many Of Wyoming’s Seldom-Seen Snakes Aren’t That Rare, They Just Like To Hide

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

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."}]

It shows the deputy approaching Allemand in the parking lot of a gas station in Buffalo, Miller’s Travel Center. 

As Campbell approaches Allemand's truck in the video, the lawmaker appears to be sitting in the driver’s seat of a blue pickup looking at a cellphone.

Vang told Cowboy State Daily the lawmaker stopped there to get fuel, not avoid law enforcement.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell raps on the window and says “howdy.\"  "}]

Allemand talks to him, asks what he did wrong, and after a brief exchange, leans over his passenger seat to retrieve documents for the deputy. 

In the video, the lawmaker is dressed in a casual blue T-shirt, his hair somewhat ruffled. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks Allemand why his speech sounds the way it does."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“I dunno,” answers Allemand, handing the deputy a document. "}]

At legislative meetings and elsewhere Allemand speaks loudly, somewhat slowly and with a unique cadence. That pattern also surfaces in the video, though Allemand’s speech sounds less articulate than usual in the 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell would later report that Allemand's speech was “slurred.” "}]

In the video, the deputy orders Allemand to exit the vehicle, and Allemand does. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“K, am I being arrested?” asks Allemand. "}]

“You’re being detained right now,” Campbell answers. The deputy explains that there’s a firearm in the truck, which he says Allemand “did not disclose.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says he has a conceal carry permit for it. "}]

Though Kisling disagreed with Campbell questioning Allemand in confinement without first giving his Miranda rights, the magistrate ruled last week that it was fair of Campbell to detain Allemand because of the gun.

 merited that detainment, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Reason I Stopped You"}]

Campbell later tells Allemand that he watched Allemand stop at an intersection, start to pull into traffic, and “almost hit a car.” Campbell also notes that Allemand was reportedly the subject of a report every drunk driving incident, or REDDI report.

The caller had reported man in his 60s with white hair driving a blue pickup all over the interstate, from rumble strip to rumble strip, court documents say.

“You did stop at the stop sign, but the way you stopped was improper,” says Campbell in the video.

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand voices disagreement and confusion. At one point he chuckles."}]

“You went past the stop sign,” explains Campbell. “But you stopped — but only because there was a vehicle in front of you that you were going to hit. So that gives me reasonable suspicion to stop you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says, “I don’t understand that. If I stop — “"}]

Campbell interrupts and says these events give him reasonable suspicion for the stop, as does the REDDI report.

[{"type":"text","text":"This Won’t Be In The Case In Chief"}]

While detaining Allemand, Campbell asked a series of questions that Kisling found, in his order last week, could lead to Allemand incriminating himself.

Because Allemand was confined and hadn’t been read his Miranda rights at that juncture, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office won’t be able to use the following exchange in its direct evidence pool at trial.

But because Campbell didn’t coerce, trick, or deceive Allemand into giving the answers he gave, the prosecutor may still “impeach” or fact check Allemand if he says something that contradicts these statements in court.

Law enforcement officers are supposed to read a person his Miranda rights before asking incriminating questions, if the person is confined to such an extent that a reasonable person in his shoes wouldn’t feel free to leave.

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks, “Did you drink anything today?”"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Yes,” answers Allemand. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks how much. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Probably two beers,” says Allemand in the video. "}]

“That’s everybody’s answer,” parries Campbell while handcuffing Allemand. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“So what did I do illegal?” Allemand asks in the video. "}]

He was driving erratically, he was reported as a drunk driver and he stopped just short of hitting a vehicle, answers Campbell, adding, “if that makes sense.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“No, it don’t,” says Allemand, who leans on his truck. "}]

After more back-and-forth, Allemand challenges Campbell’s assertion about the intersection.

“So I did stop at the stop sign, but it was an improper stop. Is that what you’re telling me?” he asks. “I don’t understand that.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell calls for another deputy to come to the scene. "}]

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." 

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