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[{"type":"text","text":"Annie Agar's NFL meeting: Conf championship edition...."}]

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

<title>You Still Here? Tuesday, February 3, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Annie Agar's NFL meeting: Conf championship edition....

You Still Here? Tuesday, February 3, 2026

 Annie Agar's NFL meeting: Conf championship edition....

Jen kocher

Jen Kocher

Crime & Courts

Law Enforcement

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on the infamous "Rawlins Rodeo Murders." Part two will be published Sunday and will focus on the suspects that have cropped up over the last 52 years.

It was the early 1970s and Rawlins was at the dawn of an energy boom. Oil and gas rigs studded the high-desert plains while Union Pacific trains hauled out coal around the clock. 

The population swelled to nearly 11,500 — many of those people transitory workers drawn to southwest Wyoming by high-paying jobs. 

New houses cropped up in the formerly empty fields around the county faster than downtown businesses could absorb the growth. It was a prosperous time. 

Then girls started to vanish before anyone could figure out what was going on. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The first two disappeared on Fourth of July weekend in 1974. "}]

They were 19-year-olds Carlene Brown and Christine “Christy” Gross, who had been visiting Rawlins from South Dakota. 

The pair had gone to the Little Britches Rodeo at the Carbon County fairgrounds, and just vanished.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Neither was seen again. "}]

Nine years later, Gross’ remains were discovered in a field 3 miles outside the neighboring town of Sinclair. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Brown has never been found. "}]

The third was 15-year-old Deborah Meyer, who disappeared on her way to the movie theater downtown. Meyer had been visiting her aunt from Red Lodge, Montana. She was last seen leaving her aunt’s house near Seventh and Spruce streets downtown.  

She told her family she was off to see a movie, but never made it to the theater. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Meyer also remains missing to this day.   "}]

Then the disappearance and death of 10-year-old Jaylene Banker at the Carbon County Fair in late August brought the community to a breaking point — the last in a string of losses that summer that the city has never fully recovered from.  

The culprit behind the disappearances and murders has never been identified, despite decades of investigation by law enforcement in what is now colloquially known as the “Rawlins Rodeo Murders.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Terrible Summer "}]

Ken Klouda, now 78, remembers this summer well. He was 25, fresh out of the Air Force and working in the mechanical department for Union Pacific Railroad.

[{"type":"text","text":"“The town was booming,” he said.  "}]

Klouda, who has lived in Rawlins for most of his life and is now president of the Carbon County Museum board, remembers the whirl of activity in the gas and oil field on top of coal mines with upward of five mines in the Hanna Coal Basin alone. 

The sudden 3,000-plus swell in population led to a bustling downtown that turned the once sleepy town into a thriving city. One friend fresh to town that summer told Klouda it reminded him of Las Vegas with all the blinking neon bar signs and active downtown. 

Up until that summer, they were used to bar fights and petty crimes, but not the disappearance of two 19-year-old girls. 

Klouda knew the Brown family and remembers people searching their yards and outbuildings when the teens vanished. People began paying careful attention to their surroundings, he said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Everybody was talking about the missing girls. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Would Have Been Right Beside Her’ "}]

Details are vague about their disappearance. It’s not clear who last saw or spoke to them. 

Their van was found parked at the fairgrounds, former Carbon County Deputy Sheriff Jeff Faycosh said in a November 1983 Casper-Star Tribune article. 

Other unofficial accounts say the vehicle was found abandoned more than 200 miles north in Worland. 

Initially, police believed the teens may have run away despite their parents' belief that something was terribly wrong.   

Some thought Brown may have gone to her mother’s house in Colorado Springs. Her parents were divorced, with her father staying in Rawlins. Brown would float back and forth between the two houses. 

After a week with no trace of her, however, the grim truth set in that she and Gross were really missing. 

Mary Kay Albrechtson, now 71, was Brown’s close childhood friend who had planned to go with her that night to the rodeo and carnival.  

“I was sick and so I didn’t go,” she said. “Otherwise, I would have been right beside her.” 

It’s a guilt — and deep pain — she still carries more than five decades later. 

“It brings great sadness to me,” Albrechtson said, as she continues to search for her friend.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Who Is Christy Gross’? "}]

Oddly, Albrechtson said nobody knew Gross. That was the first question she and Brown’s friends asked after they vanished: “Who is Christy Gross?” 

Amateur sleuth websites offer little more, noting only that Gross was from Bowdle, South Dakota, was visiting friends or family in Rawlins at the time, and had been an active participant in high school life — band, choir, track, cheerleading. 

It’s not clear how Brown and Gross knew one another or who might have been driving that night. Albrechtson couldn’t recall if Brown had a vehicle and instead remembers her riding a motorcycle.  

The disappearances remained a mystery for nine years until October 1983, when Gross’ body was found in a field 3 miles south of Sinclair off Interstate 80.  

[{"type":"text","text":"She’d been killed by at least two blunt blows to the head.  "}]

The official cause of death was trauma to the head with the manner of death “pending investigation,” according to a docket report from Brittany Nyman, Carbon County coroner.  

Gross was identified through partial dental records and an “unusual ring” made by her uncle, stated news reports at the time.  

After Gross was found, Sheriff Faycosh was quoted by news media as saying that they “do have new leads and at least one suspect.” 

He further said that the suspect had been located but that a warrant would not be issued until more information had been gathered. He estimated it would take a month.

It’s not clear if that arrest ever came or whether that suspect was eventually cleared.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not Afraid To Take Risks "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Brown, too, is suspected to be deceased though not yet located.  "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Albrechtson still misses her friend. "}]

After she vanished, Albrechtson had a reoccurring dream in which Brown turns up at her front door looking for her shoes.   

She described Brown as having a wild spirit who liked adventure. Brown’s “shenanigans” sometimes led the friends to getting in trouble, she said.

“We were opposites in that aspect but maybe that’s also why I liked her,” she said. “She had the nerve to venture out.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"She also wasn’t afraid to take a risk, Albrechtson said.  "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Unfortunately, that is also what took her life,” she said.  "}]

She believes that Brown willingly got into a car with a stranger the night she disappeared. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lasting Pain "}]

The next to disappear was 15-year-old Meyer, who vanished one month later on Aug. 4, 1974.  

Meyer had been visiting her aunt in Rawlins from Red Lodge, Montana. She set out on foot to go to the downtown movie theater but never made it. 

[{"type":"text","text":"She has yet to be found. "}]

Her disappearance sent shockwaves back home. Even today, her oldest friends find it too painful to drudge up the memories and declined to be interviewed. 

Others who knew Meyer posted their thoughts about her life and disappearance on a January 2025 post on a Red Lodge Facebook page. 

Her mother, Diane, had been a beloved teacher and her dad, Ron, a crop duster pilot. Both have since died.  

They were Finnish, one friend posted, sharing her fond memories of using their sauna with Meyer and friends. 

Others expressed their shock upon learning she’d vanished and how terrifying and heartbreaking it was for all of them. 

“She is missed by all of us and we have never stopped hoping her remains could be found and put to rest,” wrote Jean Anderson Loyning. 

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s not clear why Meyer was in Rawlins at that time. "}]

One person posted that Meyer had been sent to her aunt’s while her mother was in the hospital for surgery. Another said that Meyer planned to spend the summer at her aunt’s to work at a restaurant her aunt either owned or worked at. 

Rare for a girl her age, Meyer had upper and lower dentures, several noted, which will make it easier for her to be identified should her body be found.  

Nobody back then, or today, thinks that Meyer willingly left on her own accord and suspect foul play.  

Janet Franson, then a cold case investigator for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), interviewed Diane before her death. Diane was adamant that her daughter would not have run away and had no reason to do so.  

Before their own deaths, Meyer’s parents had her legally declared dead with the date of her disappearance listed as the date of death. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fourth Missing Girl "}]

Jaylene Banker, 10, vanished on Aug. 23, 1974, from the Carbon County Fair after becoming separated from friends at the rodeo grounds. The fairgrounds were less than five blocks away from the Banker home in Rawlins.  

The community instantly rallied around the family, pooling together nearly $14,000 — the equivalent of roughly $95,000 today — as a reward for information leading to her safe return. No one came forward. 

Former Carbon County Sheriff C.W. “Chuck” Ogburn organized multiple searches and volunteers went door to door in search of the girl.  

Desperate for answers, law enforcement even took tips from psychics all over the country. 

One extrasensory perception specialist was brought from Omaha to join in on a search, according to local media reports from the period. 

Another tip from an Arkansas psychic who offered a description of the perpetrator and a possible location prompted a search for a shallow grave south of Rawlins that also proved futile. 

Meanwhile, Banker’s family held out hope that their “shy” girl would be found. 

“It’s just as if she sprouted wings and flew away,” her mother told the Casper Star-Tribune in September 1974.  

Mrs. William Swanson, a neighbor of the Banker family, said that several people had called in reporting “visions” of the 10-year-old alive and heading east in a black pickup. 

Rawlins, home of the Wyoming State Penitentiary, is no stranger to violent crime, Swanson told the newspaper. But Banker’s disappearance, she said, had “clicked an emotional switch” in the community. 

Swanson said the disappearance had drawn the town together, with residents turning out in force to help search. Among them was a group of young girls who went door to door collecting money, carrying a sign that read: “We Want Jaylene Back. Can You Help Us?” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Lead Gone "}]

In September, a promising lead emerged when police detained two Salt Lake City men on public intoxication charges. Both carried lengthy criminal records, one of which included child molestation, United Press International reported.  

A local detective determined the men had passed through Rawlins around the time of Banker’s disappearance, based on their travel route between Casper and Salt Lake City. 

 The FBI examined their vehicle and their fingerprints were submitted to the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. The lead went nowhere. 

The following month, Ogburn announced renewed efforts to “start from scratch,” the Casper Star-Tribune reported. This included giving polygraph test to five unidentified people, two adults and three teens.  

By December and with no new leads, Banker’s mother, Alline, told the media that she hoped her daughter was still alive. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Soft Spot For Kids "}]

Klouda remembers the fear and frenzy of those days, and a the community reeling from the loss and brutality while authorities scrambled to find whoever was responsible and bring them to justice. 

He said then-Rawlins Police Chief Phil McGee and Sheriff Ogburn were working on overdrive, especially Ogburn, who had a “soft spot” for young people despite his otherwise stern demeanor.  

“Chuck scared a lot of us straight, but he worried about kids,” Klouda said. “I know his department was really looking for these kids and trying to find out what happened.” 

All hope dissipated when eight months later in April 1975 a city engineer running with his dog found Banker’s badly decomposed body in a field near local gravel pits about 2 miles outside town and approximately 5 miles from the fairgrounds in an area that had previously been searched. 

Banker was found lying face down in a rocky area after being hit in the head. Her official cause of death is a fractured skull with the manner of death a homicide, according to the coroner’s docket report. 

She was found with two red tennis shoes, two blue stockings and a pair of blue cotton slacks, the report states. 

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<title>More Than 50 Years Later, ‘Rawlins Rodeo Murders’ Of Young Girls Remain Unsolved | Cowboy State Daily</title>

More than 50 years after four young girls vanished in what has become known as the “Rawlins Rodeo Murders," the case remains unsolved. "We lost our innocence. That summer we lost that. We were never again the same,” said one longtime resident.

More Than 50 Years Later, ‘Rawlins Rodeo Murders’ Of Young Girls Remain Unsolved

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Public Lands

The Bureau of Land Management is investigating multiple incidents of “irreparable” vandalism at six Native American rock art sites in the Bighorn Basin.

The BLM's Cody Field Office reports there was significant damage to multiple rock panels containing petroglyphs created by Wyoming's indigenous tribes. Many of the panels have been defaced with names carved into them, including “Erin,” and phrases scratched into the rock containing the ancient images.

A bonfire had been burning directly underneath one of the panels, which cracked and discolored the surface. Also, the BLM Cody Field Office said several panels were damaged by what appears to be gunfire.

“This intentional damage takes away future generations’ ability to view this part of our human history and to study these sites,” said Cody Field Office Archeologist Karina Black in a statement about the vandalism.

The BLM hasn’t released many additional details on the vandalism, but believes the illegal acts were “recent.” 

Damaging petroglyphs and rock art sites can result in criminal charges, including felonies, and violations can be pursued through civil action as well.

Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach the BLM Cody Field Office at the time of publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Persistent Problem"}]

According to an assessment by the Wyoming Cultural Records Office, at least 157 of Wyoming's 666 known petroglyph sites — more than a quarter of what’s known — have been vandalized.

Bonnie Smith, president of the Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists, was distraught when she learned of the extent of the damage to the sites in the Bighorn Basin.

“The rock art of Wyoming is not just images on stone,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “It is a conversation across generations. Once damaged, that conversation is silenced forever.”

Finding and prosecuting those responsible for rock art vandalism is difficult for the BLM, which is often unable to conduct extensive investigations due to a lack of staffing and funding.

In October 2025, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department offered a $10,000 reward for information on whoever 

 an important archaeological site near Dubois.

“If we can figure out who did this, we can start looking to get back what was taken,” Jason Hunter, regional wildlife supervisor for Wyoming Game and Fish’s Lander office, told Cowboy State Daily. “Right now, we’re looking for people who might have information, and we’ll go from there.”

There have been no public updates on whether any culprits have been identified and charged. That’s a common outcome for these incidents.

"People get away with this all the time,” Smith said. “We’ve been getting better about vandalism in Wyoming, (and) we want to believe that it's getting better, which makes these incidents unfortunate."

The BLM Cody Field Office hasn’t disclosed where the six sites are located in the Bighorn Basin.

After reviewing the photos, Smith thought they might be in Park County’s Oregon Basin east of Cody, where there are many known petroglyph sites. That makes the irreparable damage all the more egregious.

“The petroglyphs and pictographs of the Bighorn Basin are some of the oldest voices we have in the state,” Smith said. “As archaeologists, we recognize that rock art is more than a cultural resource.

"It is a direct connection to the people who shaped the history of the Bighorn Basin.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Crime And Punishment"}]

When someone is identified and found guilty of vandalizing rock art, the penalties can be severe.

In November 2024, Daniela Ganassim Ericksen was arrested on felony charges for damaging the Buckskin Gulch Petroglyphs east of Kanab, Utah. She caused around $7,000 of damage by carving several figures into one of the panels.

, she was sentenced to 12 months of probation and $14,853.36 in restitution.

She was also barred from entering all BLM lands and had to send a letter of apology to the indigenous tribes with a cultural association to the Buckskin Gulch Petroglyphs.

Smith and many other archaeologists celebrated the conviction, hoping it would send a strong message to other potential offenders.

“In my professional opinion, I think it's pretty fantastic that she was prosecuted at all," Smith said. "People who have been caught vandalizing petroglyphs usually get a slap on the wrist at best.”

However, there’s no way to undo the damage that’s been done,” Smith said. No amount of money or probation can restore these irreplaceable relics of human history.

“These rock art panels have survived millennia,” Smith said. “They shouldn’t have to survive us.”

The BLM Cody Field Office is encouraging anyone with information about the six rock art sites vandalized in the Bighorn Basin to contact the field office at 307-578-5900 or reach out to local law enforcement.

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<title>Six Bighorn Basin Rock Art Sites Burned, Shot In ‘Irreparable’ Vandalism | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The BLM is investigating multiple incidents of “irreparable” vandalism at rock art sites in the Bighorn Basin. They were burned, shot and had names scratched into them. "People get away with this all the time,” said a Wyoming archaeologist.

Six Bighorn Basin Rock Art Sites Burned, Shot In ‘Irreparable’ Vandalism

Jimmy orr

Jimmy Orr

Wildlife

A California man said he was dragged 20-30 feet by a grizzly before it finally let him go in an attack he sustained late last month in Glacier National Park.

The report of the attack, which up until now has been scant of specifics, has turned vivid with Daniel Crago discussing the blow-by-blow of his bear encounter on a 

Crago says he was on his last day of a hiking trip when he peeled away from his friend to “take in some views.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s when he spotted a “smaller” grizzly."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then the worst thing happened: he spotted a larger grizzly."}]

“I did as you’re told, I alerted the bear,” he said, which was about 15 feet away.

[{"type":"text","text":"That did no good."}]

“At that point, I was so close it likely frightened the bear,” he said. “As soon as it saw me, it charged down and attacked me.”

“I threw my arm up, it bit my arm, dragged me about 20-30 feet, and took off,” he said in the post.

“I could see my hand, and it was just dangling there,” he told 

The National Park Service said park employees believe that loud rushing water made it difficult for the hiker or the bears to detect each other.

Calling the experience “terrifying,” Crago said he was fortunate in that a pediatrician was in the area who was able to stabilize the arm while another hiker made noises in an attempt to keep the bears from coming back.

[{"type":"text","text":"The bears did not return."}]

Another hiker, he said, alerted emergency services and a helicopter airlifted him to nearby hospital in Kalispell.

He’s had three surgeries so far, he said, and is expecting at least one more.

"I am facing significant medical bills from the treatment and care I received," he said. "The costs are overwhelming, and I am reaching out for help to cover these expenses so I can continue my recovery."

Retired ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody, who frequently hikes solo in grizzly country, told Cowboy State Daily that hiking in Glacier Park demands extra alertness.

“Encounters can happen at just a few yards away” if hikers aren’t paying keen attention, Neal said.

“It’s a high-quality habitat for bears. It’s better habitat for bears than Yellowstone is” and tends to attract a younger crowd, he said.

“Those younger hikers go barreling up those trails without paying that much attention,” Neal said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Busy Season For Bear Attacks"}]

Crago’s is the latest of multiple bear encounters with humans in the region so far this season.

Earlier in the month, Glacier Park reported its 

 since 1998 when the body of Florida resident Anthony Pollio, 33, was found May 6 two days after he was reported missing.

His body was found about 50 feet from the trail he’d apparently been hiking on.

 when they were attacked by a female grizzly with cubs near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

On May 26, a man running on a trail in British Columbia, Canada, was attacked by a female black bear with two cubs.

Outdoor adventurer Michael Hodges was photographing grizzlies in the Glacier Park backcountry on the day that Pollio’s body was discovered about 15 miles away.

Later, he was on the same trail where the alleged May 28 bear attack was reported.

“I was up on the trail the week of May 6 and saw many grizzlies,” he stated in a text message to Cowboy State Daily last week.

“I warned hikers from California and Texas at the trailhead that there was an unusual number of griz, and to be extra alert,” stated Hodges, a novelist and internet personality.

Daniel crago 6 5 26

<title>California Man Says Grizzly Dragged Him 30 Feet In Glacier National Park Attack | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A California hiker said after he surprised two grizzlies last month on a trail in Glacier National Park, the larger bear bit through his arm and dragged him 30 feet. “I did as you’re told, I alerted the bear,” he said, but the bear attacked him anyway.

California Man Says Grizzly Dragged Him 30 Feet In Glacier National Park Attack

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

Greg Johnson

Government & Politics

Politics

CHEYENNE — Data centers and Wyoming’s role in hosting them are greater than a local issue for communities debating whether they want that development or not; they represent a national security issue the state’s next governor needs to address.

That’s one of the main takeaways from a crowded Republican gubernatorial candidate forum Friday afternoon.

“We are in an AI arms race with China, and President Trump has been very bullish on data center development,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. “We have some resources here in the state of Wyoming to keep them going.”

She said she shares the concerns people in Cheyenne, Evanston, Casper and Laramie have already expressed about water usage and how data centers could impact power rates.

The answer isn’t banning data centers, she said, it’s “ensuring there is not water usage pulling from our resources … and making sure that we do not have utility rate (increases) that are on the backs of Wyoming people.”

She was on stage in the Grand Ballroom at Little America in Cheyenne with Republican primary opponents Brent Bien and Eric Barlow for a forum hosted by the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.

Bien said that as he’s been traveling around Wyoming, “the vast majority of the folks are opposed to these, and I mean, they’re popping up all over the place.”

A career military man who spent 28 years in the Marines, and ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor in 2022, said people are afraid of data centers because they don’t understand or trust them.

Data centers are important to national security and for Wyoming, said the top GOP candidates for governor during a Friday forum. “We are in an AI arms race with China,” Megan Degenfelder said, with all agreeing it will be a priority for the next governor.

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