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Jake Nichols

Radio

It's the Cowboy State Daily Show With John Baggett, Saturday mornings from 6 - 10 a.m.

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

Baggs

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

<title>Cowboy State Daily Morning Show — Saturday, August 9, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It's the Saturday morning show with John Baggett from 6-10AM.

Cowboy State Daily Morning Show — Saturday, August 9, 2025

 It's the Cowboy State Daily Show With John Baggett, Saturday mornings from 6 - 10 a.m. Catch up with the show on your favorite podcast platform! 

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — More than a year after a masked confrontation at a local apartment erupted into a 

, prosecutors allege the woman who drove three people to the scene knew what was about to happen.

Nevaeh Marie Neemann, 22, has been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and accessory before the fact to aggravated assault for her alleged role in the May 11, 2025, shooting at the Foxhill Apartments.

The shooting left 20-year-old Anicio Bernard dead and 20-year-old Colton Robb critically wounded.

Investigators say Robb was targeted because Neemann's boyfriend, Jadin Triplett, believed he had stolen his Glock 26 handgun.

Neemann was arrested this week and made her initial appearance Thursday in Natrona County Circuit Court before Judge Cynthia Sweet. 

A 14-page probable cause affidavit filed by Casper Police Sgt. Andrea Husted paints a detailed picture of months of investigation involving cellphone downloads, Facebook messages, recorded conversations and witness interviews.

Investigators allege Neemann wasn't simply behind the wheel — she knowingly helped carry out a plan that spiraled into a fatal gunfight.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Something Bad ...'"}]

The affidavit shows that Triplett believed Robb had stolen his Glock after visiting the apartment Triplett shared with Neemann in early May 2025.

Rather than reporting the firearm stolen, investigators say Triplett set out to recover it himself.

Triplett posted on Facebook offering $500 for information leading to the gun's return and exchanged messages with friends about confronting Robb.

Detectives also recovered messages showing Bernard asking Triplett whether he had an extra ski mask hours before the shooting.

Investigators say the plan evolved into confronting Robb at the Foxhill Apartments, where he had been staying with relatives.

Neemann admitted driving Bernard, Triplett and Adriana Sanchez to the apartment complex.

Before arriving, she told detectives Bernard removed a pistol from a bag and tucked it into his waistband.

[{"type":"text","text":"She also admitted Triplett had a firearm with him."}]

As the group approached the building, Bernard and Triplett pulled ski masks over their faces.

Neemann told investigators she immediately realized "something bad was going to happen."

According to the affidavit, she understood the plan was for Bernard and Triplett to beat Robb up and recover Triplett's stolen handgun.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Give Me Your’ Stuff"}]

Investigators say Bernard chambered a round while walking toward the apartment.

After someone inside opened the door, Bernard immediately pointed his gun at Robb and yelled, "Give me your shit, give me all your shit."

Robb drew his own handgun, according to court records, and the two men exchanged gunfire inside the apartment.

Neemann told detectives Triplett also pointed a gun at Robb and attempted to fire, but it appeared to jam.

Bernard was struck during the exchange and staggered out of the apartment before collapsing on the stairs outside.

Neemann said she believed she watched Bernard take his last breath after he told the others to run.

Robb survived after suffering a gunshot wound that investigators say struck his heart and gallbladder, requiring emergency surgery before he was flown to Colorado for additional treatment.

The charging document shows nobody riding in Neemann's vehicle called 911.

Instead, investigators say Neemann drove Sanchez away before returning home with Triplett.

There, she told detectives they gathered Triplett's firearms and asked one of his coworkers to take possession of them because Triplett had become suicidal following the shooting.

[{"type":"text","text":"Police later recovered those weapons."}]

Investigators also searched Neemann's maroon Chevrolet Impala, where they found ammunition, magazines, and receipts for firearm-related purchases.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Digital Trail"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Much of the case relies on digital evidence gathered over the past year."}]

Detectives obtained search warrants for cellphones and reviewed Facebook Messenger conversations, FaceTime calls, GPS data and social media posts.

Among the evidence cited in the affidavit are messages showing Bernard and Triplett discussing getting the gun back, Bernard requesting an extra ski mask, and Bernard speaking with Robb just hours before the shooting.

Investigators say Bernard and Robb mentioned drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana together and a mutual friend's bond money during a FaceTime call shortly before the confrontation.

Police also reviewed recordings made after the shooting with participants discussing what had happened inside the apartment.

One recording captured Triplett saying they knocked on the door; Bernard entered first and demanded property before gunfire erupted, according to court documents.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Conflicting Stories"}]

Nearly everyone interviewed agreed on one point: Bernard entered the apartment wearing a ski mask.

[{"type":"text","text":"Beyond that, accounts differed."}]

Some witnesses told police they believed the group only intended to recover the stolen gun. Others described what sounded like an armed robbery after Bernard demanded Robb hand over all of his belongings.

[{"type":"text","text":"Triplett himself gave investigators multiple versions of events."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Initially, he insisted he never pulled the trigger."}]

Later, he admitted pointing his gun at Robb and attempting to fire before realizing the safety was still engaged.

He also acknowledged continuing with the plan after seeing Bernard armed because he didn't want to "be a bitch" or back out.

 with felony accessory before the fact to aggravated assault and battery in connection with the shooting. His case remains pending.

Based on interviews, cellphone evidence and Neemann's own statements, Sgt. Husted concluded there was probable cause to charge Neemann with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and accessory before the fact to aggravated assault.

Neeman will next appear in Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing within about 10 days. Judge Sweet set bond at $25,00 cash or surety. 

Nevaeh Marie Neemann 6 26 26

<title>Casper Woman Charged With Driving Getaway Car After Fatal Apartment Shooting | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper woman has been arrested and was in court Thursday, accused of driving the getaway car in an ambush-style apartment shooting more than a year ago that left one man dead. Police say she knew “something bad” was about to go down at the time.

Casper Woman Charged With Driving Getaway Car After Fatal Apartment Shooting

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Prosecutors claim that a Fremont County BLM law enforcement officer accused of killing another man during a January bar fight didn’t act responsibly to protect others, and instead “advances like a predator” before applying a deadly chokehold.

That characterization of how Richard “Deak” Dollard acted on the evening of Jan. 9 during a brawl at the Maverick Bar in Lander is included in a Thursday prosecution response to a motion from Dollard’s attorney to dismiss the second-degree murder charge he faces.

The June 8 motion filed by Casper-based defense attorney Ryan Semerad argues Richard Dollard can’t be prosecuted “for his proper use of reasonable defensive force to protect others.”

Those others include Dollard’s brother, Justin, and nephew, Jesse, who were both involved in a physical fight with 38-year-old Evan Denevan.

Denevan was fighting with Justin when Richard came into the room and pulled Denevan off his brother, putting him in a restraining hold that prosecutors refer to as a “chokehold” in court documents, but the defense adamantly denies any choking pressure was applied.

What both sides seem to agree on is what was captured on multiple cellphone videos and bar surveillance is Richard holding Denevan around his face and neck area for about 30 seconds, then putting him on the floor.

He died at the scene, according to court documents.

In his motion to dismiss, Semerad argues that Denevan was the aggressor and that Richard acted calmly and with restraint to protect his brother and others from danger.

Only after someone at the bar called out multiple times for Denevan to stop “did Richard step in, taking hold of Evan to pull him away from Justin, the woman, and the crowd of bar patrons standing within punching distance,” the motion to dismiss says.

“I don’t believe my client was angry or emotional,” Semerad told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “I think he saw the situation and his mentality was not anger or emotion, it was, ‘How do I protect everyone in this situation from being hurt.’”

That’s not what the evidence and witnesses show, prosecutors allege in their response.

“The defendant advances like a predator — he appears to know his goal when he enters the room and he advances unchecked upon the same,” according to the response. “He advances intentionally and deliberately.”

Semerad called the description of his client as a “predator” in the response as “pure rhetoric” and an attempt to “try to characterize this encounter” as something it wasn’t.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Reasonable Force’"}]

That Richard Dollard only applied a non-lethal hold on Denevan is clearly “not the case” based on video and other evidence, prosecutors say. Most notably, if the hold was non-lethal, why did he die?

“Although the defendant’s claim is that he gripped the decedent in a non-lethal hold meant to control the situation, the video makes it quite clear that this is not the case,” the response to the motion to dismiss says.

“The hold is lethal by self-definition of the circumstances,” the document adds.

Conversely, Semerad said it’s murky at best about what caused Denevan to die that night, as there were other potential health issues that may have contributed to his death.

“There seems to be some kind of disconnect” in what really caused his death, Semerad said. “He perceived the decedent attacking his brother … and there were people in harm’s way. 

“He came over to protect everybody with the use of reasonable force.”

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

An evidentiary affidavit by a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent filed days after the incident in Lander Circuit Court describes a brawl which at one point contained eight to 10 people, unfolding at the Maverick Bar around 11 p.m. on Jan. 9.

A 911 caller beckoned Lander Police Department officers to the scene at around 11:15 p.m. 

The caller indicated “we have someone down at the Maverick Bar, he’s not breathing, he’s all purple,” says the affidavit.

LPD officers arrived and found Denevan lying on his back near the pool tables with bystanders trying to help him, the document says.

Officers began life-saving measures, but later noted that the man’s face was “slightly purple in color” and they weren’t able to find a carotid pulse. Fremont County emergency medical personnel arrived as well to help, but “Denevan was determined to be deceased,” says the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"LPD secured the bar as a crime scene."}]

Initial witness statements reportedly describe a fight between Denevan and the three Dollard men.

Justin Dollard in his interview with LPD detectives confirmed he was involved in the fight.

Denevan had previously said he would “whip” Justin, the latter reportedly said, and had threatened to fight both Justin and Jesse Dollard.

Denevan had yelled at the Dollard father and son, “If you come over here, I will kick your ass,” the affidavit relates.

Then, according to Justin’s interview and Jesse’s separate interview, Denevan removed his hat and glasses as if preparing for a fight.

Justin Dollard told detectives he approached Denevan, who came back and hit him, “and the fight broke out,” the affidavit relates. 

Along with Richard facing a charge of second-degree murder, Justin has been charged with accessory before the fact to second-degree murder, and Jesse with accessory before the fact to manslaughter.

If convicted, Richard and Justin face 20 years to life in prison, while Jesse could get a maximum of 20 years in prison.

All three have been set for a combined trial that’s scheduled for eight days beginning Nov. 2.

Dollards and Maverick bar 2 3 26

<title>Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Lander man facing a second-degree murder charge for a fatal January bar brawl wants the charge dismissed, saying he used “reasonable” force. Prosecutors disagree, saying he “advances like a predator” on the victim in a Thursday response.

Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

After repeatedly getting too close to people and possible food sources, a popular young grizzly called Miracle was captured and relocated by wildlife agents in Grand Teton National Park on Thursday afternoon.

It was the necessary next step for human safety and the bear’s well-being, Grand Teton spokeswoman Emily Davis told Cowboy State Daily early Friday.

Miracle has been hanging around the Colter Bay area, where she was captured.

Earlier this month, dog handlers with Karelian bear dogs were brought in to try hazing Miracle away from crowded areas.

Fans of Miracle have assumed the bear was a female. That was confirmed when she was captured, Davis said.

The bear weighs roughly 80 pounds. She was tagged and officially designated “GB (grizzly bear) 1199,” she said.

Miracle is thought to be about 2.5 years old, and assumed to the offspring of another popular bear, Grizzly 1063.

Biologists think “it’s highly likely that she’s 1063’s offspring” but only a DNA test could affirm that, Davis said.

Miracle/Grizzly 1199 was relocated to a remote location in Grand Teton, she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘A Fed Bear Is A Dead Bear’"}]

“There have been no documented cases of her (Miracle/Grizzly 1199) getting a food reward” but the possibility seemed imminent, Davis said.

A bear getting food rewards, or becoming “food-conditioned,” as officials put it, is considered a critical tipping point. And it usually doesn’t end well for the bear.

“A fed bear is a dead bear” is a common saying among wildlife biologists and bear enthusiasts.

Wildlife agents recently euthanized a food-conditioned black bear in Grand Teton.

It’s suspected that food-conditioning caused the unusually bold behavior of a black bear near Golden, Colorado. That bear scratched a woman who was hiking and then 

, despite the woman continually shouting and throwing rocks and sticks at the bear.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘Just A Matter Of Time’"}]

Wildlife photographer Marcela Herdova is an avid fan of Miracle and has been watching her with apprehension for the past few weeks.

Herdova told Cowboy State Daily she’s seen Miracle getting close to garbage cans and other possible temptations.

The Colter Bay area has been packed with tourists, increasing the odds that something could go wrong with the bear, she added.

“I think it was just a matter of time before somebody did something, like, not properly throwing away their trash, or even directly giving her something. So, I think this (the relocation) is the best move for her,” Herdova said.

“Right now, she’s still a little bear, but she’s still growing,” Herdova added. "She won’t be such a small bear for long, and that could cause some issues.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Troubled History"}]

Miracle is thought to have beaten some steep odds to have survived this long.

She’s thought to be one of three yearling cubs with Grizzly 1063 in May 2025, and those bears were hanging around Colter Bay.

Bear enthusiasts claimed the Park Service trying to haze Grizzly 1063 and her cubs away from Colter Bay caused them to temporarily split up, leaving the cubs vulnerable to the male’s attack.

Park officials stated there was no evidence the hazing contributed to the attack.

The third cub, thought to be Miracle, briefly reunited with Grizzly 1063 but later apparently split from its mother again.

Miracle was captured and relocated in July 2025.

Bear watchers wondered if the cub could make it on its own at such a young age because grizzlies don’t typically separate from their mothers until age 2.

Miracle’s fans were thrilled when she 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘The First Grizzly They Got To See’"}]

With Miracle apparently having worn out her welcome at Colter Bay, it’s bittersweet to see her relocated, Herdova said.

“I do think that they (the Park Service) have expended so much effort to keep Miracle safe, and I appreciate that,” she said.

Herdova added she’s seen numerous instances of wildlife getting into trouble, because of human interference.

That included watching a black bear digging into an overflowing garbage can, which has since been removed, she said.

And she’s watched a fox “posturing” right next to people, apparently trying to get food from them.

Miracle has been the most highly visible bear this spring and early summer, Herdova said.

Grizzly 1063 has made some appearances with three new cubs, “but she has changed her behavior” and hasn’t been as visible as usual, she said.

Grand Teton’s most famous living bear, Grizzly 610, also “hasn’t been as visible” this year, Herdova said.

With Miracle gone, there might not be as many bear-watching opportunities for visitors, she added.

“It’s sad that people aren’t going to see her because, for many people, she was the first grizzly that they ever got to see,” Herdova said.

Miracle bear running 6 26 26

<title>Miracle, Popular Grand Teton Grizzly, Relocated After Getting Too Close To People | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After repeatedly getting too close to people and food sources, a popular young grizzly nicknamed Miracle was captured and relocated by wildlife agents in Grand Teton National Park on Thursday. "It was just a matter of time," said one wildlife photographer.

Miracle, Popular Grand Teton Grizzly, Relocated After Getting Too Close To People

You Still Here

[{"type":"text","text":"How real men go grocery shopping....."}]

Shopping 6 26 26

<title>Today In Shopping: Friday, June 26, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

How real men go grocery shopping.....

Today In Shopping: Friday, June 26, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily political columnist, Rod Miller.

Rod Miller

Opinion

CSD Columnists

They shouldered their way into Wyoming politics a few years ago, proclaiming a gnarly populist gospel of “grassroots” change as preached by a national organization from back East. They gained control of the Wyoming House while we weren’t paying attention. 

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ two years in power have exposed their fumbling ineptitude, their disconnect with the values of Wyoming citizens, and their continuing lust for power. Their performance has doomed their movement and, after 8/18/26, they will be nothing more than a minor footnote to Wyoming’s political history.

When its members gained a majority in the Wyoming House in 2024, the Freedom Caucus took control of the legislative committees that map out the future of our state. They introduced a legislative agenda intended to transform the Cowboy State into the Biggest Booger Farm in the World.

Had they succeeded, the “Welcome to Wyoming” signs that greet visitors at our borders would have been replaced with rusted cars on cinder blocks and bathtubs full of empty beer cans.

The Freedom Caucus frittered away the first season of interim committee work crafting legislation addressing the pressing problems of UFOs and chemtrails (henceforth, they shall be known as the Chemtrail Caucus) and boneheaded ideas to sell our state land for a dollar an acre to latter day homesteaders.

They had a plan to “Nickel and Dime” our small, remote communities into subservience to central control in Cheyenne. Rep. John Bear, a Chemtrail Caucus poster boy, even said that he wouldn’t be heartbroken if small towns in the Big Empty simply dried up and blew away.

From banning books to keeping women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, the Chemtrail Caucus’ vision for us resembled nothing so much as the Sharia Law of the West. They even tried to cut $40 million from the University of Wyoming, home of the Cowboys, simply because they didn’t appreciate the rigorous intellectual inquiry that occurs at a major institution of higher learning.

[{"type":"text","text":"But wait, there’s more! "}]

The Chemtrail Caucus even managed to have campaign checks hand delivered to themselves on the floor of the Wyoming house by Rebecca Bextel on behalf of a rich donor from Teton County in the “Checkgate" scandal. There is an ongoing criminal investigation into that hilarious debacle. 

[{"type":"text","text":"How’s that for Wyoming Values?"}]

When their legislative agenda was thwarted by the Wyoming Senate or the courts, the Chemtrail Caucus whined like a gutshot goose, and called their opponents RINOs or “leftist activist judges," and now they are trying to take control of both. They go so far as to say that the Wyoming Supreme Court should be reduced to three black robes instead of five, presumably so the court can be more easily manipulated.

The current gang-warfare style of our politics, whereby we are told to think of ourselves less as Republican and Democrat neighbors and more as the Crips and Bloods fighting over turf, is about the only tangible Chemtrail Caucus gift to Wyoming. And, if I am reading the political tea leaves correctly, I think the good people of Wyoming are getting sick and tired of Chemtrail Caucus bullshit.

Good, solid Wyoming citizens are rising up to run against Caucus incumbents this election season. 

The real grassroots of Wyoming seem to be pushing back against the herbicide that the Chemtrail Caucus is spraying on us. Folks are seeing through the smokescreen

The Chemtrail Caucus Ministry of Propaganda, that handful of shrill media outlets, isn’t matching its noise level with numbers. The flagship of this media “empire”, funded largely by Rebecca Bextel of “Checkgate” infamy, boasts of a whopping 250 subscribers. Cowboy State Daily, which you are reading now, has over 110,000 subscribers. 

The right wing "media" in Wyoming defines “echo chamber.” They represent a paper-thin slice of our state - the same angry voices, bouncing the same goofball rhetoric off the same narrow little walls. Nobody is paying them much attention.

In the competition for Wyoming’s eyes and ears, the Caucus is sucking hind tit.

For these and many other reasons, I think this will be a tough year for the Chemtrail Caucus. I’m comfortable enough in my analysis to have serious money out on the street, betting on the outcome of the next election. And I’m always willing to make more wagers with new suckers. 

So vote your conscience on 8/18/26, and peel an eye for my column on 8/21/26, where I’ll either eat crow or gloat in front of 110,000 people.

Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com

Rod miller headshot scaled

<title>Rod Miller:  A Bleak Future for the Chemtrail Caucus | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Rod Miller writes, "The Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ two years in power have exposed their fumbling ineptitude, their disconnect with the values of Wyoming citizens, and their continuing lust for power. Their performance has doomed their movement."

Rod Miller:  A Bleak Future for the Chemtrail Caucus

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

Clair McFarland

Next week Idaho will adopt the firing squad as its primary execution method due to availability and failure problems with lethal injection. 

A lawmaker tried to give Wyoming a firing squad option while the state still had a convicted rapist and murderer on death row in 2014, but the bill didn’t clear the Legislature. 

Idaho is switching from lethal injections to firing squad executions on July 1. Wyoming almost added firing squad executions as an alternate method in 2014 because lethal injection drugs were scarce and 'Lil Miss' killer Dale Wayne Eaton was still on death row.

Cowboy State Daily Morning Show — Saturday, August 9, 2025

Catch up with the show on your favorite podcast platform!

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Cowboy State Daily Morning Show — Saturday, August 9, 2025

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Authors

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