A Cody woman accused of trying to have her daughter’s boyfriend killed is sane enough for trial, a judge has ruled.
District Court Judge Bill Simpson on Tuesday scheduled 56-year-old Wendy Dawn Coe’s attempted first-degree murder trial for Aug. 4, in Park County District Court.
The trial date was set after Simpson – with agreement from both Coe’s defense attorney and Park County Deputy Attorney Larry Eichele – proclaimed Coe sane enough to face trial.
Simpson reviewed a May 5 evaluation by a Wyoming State Hospital psychologist before drawing that conclusion, he wrote in his order.
Coe, through her attorney Sam Krone, had asked for mental health tests on March 11 – two days before her previously-scheduled trial was set to begin – over a concern that she wasn’t mentally well enough to participate in her prosecution.
Defendants who aren’t sane enough to stand trial cannot be prosecuted, but Wyoming authorities can try to restore their competency before dropping charges against them.
The Drugs, The Behavior
The charge stems from allegations that in December 2023, Coe hired a man to kill her daughter’s boyfriend, whom she characterized to an undercover investigator as drug-addicted and controlling.
Coe did not know, however, that the would-be hitman was a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent in disguise, the case affidavit says.
The document says she reached out to multiple people trying to get someone to kill the boyfriend for about two weeks leading up to her Dec. 21, 2023, arrest.
The DCI special agent received word of Coe’s inquiries and met with her, wearing an audio recording device, says the affidavit.
That Winter
When meeting with Coe in late 2023, the DCI agent visited a store where she worked, the affidavit says. She told him to visit with her out back, where there wouldn’t be surveillance.
“First off,” he began, “how much are you willing … like 10 grand, is that fair?” the agent asked.
Parts of the audio were muffled and unintelligible, the affidavit says. The document renders a fragmented conversation.
“That’s fair, I just don’t have it. That’s the problem, I don’t have it,” Coe replied, according to the affidavit.
The agent asked if this job was time sensitive.
“No … I just want him gone … for the way he treats my daughter,” Coe said, according to a transcript of the conversation. “Every time he gets money, he gets her back on drugs and he treats her like crap. I mean like literally he’s fully in control of her.”
The boyfriend’s name is redacted from the document, but his initials are given.
Or He Could Overdose
The agent asked how long it would take Coe to come up with the money. Her response was unintelligible.
He asked where the target lived.
Coe said he lived “over at Big Bear” and worked at an auto repair shop, the affidavit says.
The agent asked if the boyfriend was using drugs again.
“Yep,” Coe answered.
“So, if it looked like a drug deal gone bad and he was shot or something like that, is that out of the ordinary?” asked the agent.
“That’s not out of the ordinary,” Coe answered, the affidavit says.
She then offered another plan, allegedly: “Or if he OD’d (overdosed). He OD’d up in the South Fork it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.”
Getting toxic drugs to the boyfriend would be difficult and people who overdose can be revived, the agent reportedly said.
But the man is into “weird shit … even when he’s not on it, like he decides to get naked and howl at the moon,” Coe allegedly countered. “That’s why they can’t stay with us.”
Rather Shoot Him
The affidavit relates that the agent said he’d rather shoot the boyfriend if that was fine with Coe.
“Works for me,” Coe reportedly said.
The agent said he’d need a gun and asked Coe if she had one.
She didn’t, the affidavit relates.
The agent said he’d need to go to Billings, Montana, to buy a stolen gun, and asked Coe if she had between $200-$300 for that.
“Not on me, but I can come up with it. I just need to know what you need first,” said Coe, the affidavit says.
The agent said he needed the cash, photographs of the boyfriend, the boyfriend’s address, vehicles he drives and where he works.
The agent said he’d be out of town after Christmas.
“It can be after the first of the year,” said Coe.
Until Tomorrow
The affidavit says Coe referenced “the phones” sitting elsewhere and not wanting “anything being traced.”
She said she’d have the money, photographs and vehicle descriptions for the would-be hitman at the same time the next day on Dec. 21, says the document, adding that Coe described the boyfriend’s truck and schedule.
Eventually, the agent said he could have his buddy front him the cost of the gun. Then he and Coe agreed to meet back behind the store the next day, says the affidavit.
“Sounds good,” Coe reportedly answered.
The agent asked if Coe could come up with the “rest of the money” — $9,700 — around the first of the year.
Her response was unintelligible.
A Raise In April
The next day, Dec. 21 at about 7:23 in the morning, the undercover agent passed along to another investigator a screenshot of a text exchange with Coe, in which Coe allegedly texted, “I’m sorry … but I can’t afford what we discussed earlier today. Wendy.”
The agent met Coe later that morning, again behind the store, says the affidavit.
The document relates that she said she wouldn’t have a chunk of money for the gun until January and wouldn’t have the rest of the bill until she got her raise in April.
The agent said he could perhaps do the job for less.
She refused that offer, reportedly saying there was “too much risk involved.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
