CHEYENNE — A 41-year-old Wyoming Air National Guard Fire Department lieutenant accused of murdering a 10-month-old girl last year will likely remain in jail after a judge set his bond at $1 million cash Monday, despite the Laramie County District Attorney asking for $500,000.
“There’s no way I can afford that,” blurted out John Haney after DA Sylvia Hackl asked Laramie County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Forwood for the $500,000 cash-only bond.
The court isn’t concerned with what a defendant can afford, the judge responded, only how much risk someone may pose to the community.
In Haney’s case, who is accused of killing an infant and faces first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges, that’s significant, Forwood said.
“The court cannot understate the nature of this crime,” he said before doubling the asked-for bond amount.
Haney was arrested Friday nearly a year after the 10-month-old daughter of his girlfriend died in his care, according to court records.
He attended his initial court appearance Monday via video link from the Laramie County Detention Center with 15 other inmates.
When his case was called last, Haney stepped in front of the camera wearing a jail-issued uniform with large orange and white stripes.
With Haney’s hands shackled in front of him, the judge explained the felony charges against him, with Haney responding that he comprehends them.
“I do understand what I’m being charged with,” he said before asking the court to be appointed a public defender.
How Long Wasn’t She Breathing?
Haney was first contacted by Laramie County Sheriff’s Office deputies March 26, 2025, after he made a 911 call, reporting he found his girlfriend’s infant daughter face-down in her crib and not breathing, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case by Detective Sgt. Ryan Martinez.
The girl, referred to in the affidavit by the initials EJ, had been waking up intermittently throughout the morning while sleeping, Haney told investigators, according to the affidavit.
Haney said that at one point, he went to the bathroom for what he initially reported as about 8-10 minutes, then later said it could have been up to 20. When he came out at about 10:05 a.m., the baby was motionless in her crib, the affidavit says.
“When he came out of the bathroom, he saw EJ was lying face-down,” Martinez wrote about Haney’s account. “He checked her pulse and could not find one, so he began CPR.
“He claimed he performed CPR for two or three minutes before calling 911. At approximately 10:08 hours, Haney sent SS (his girlfriend) a text message.”
That text read: “Come home now!! I check on (redacted). She wasn’t breathing. Checked her pulse. I just called 911.”
Haney had emergency training having served as a full-time Wyoming Air National Guard firefighter for nearly 10 years, including the last 4.5 as a lieutenant with the agency, according to his LinkedIn profile.
By the time the first medical responder arrived at the home, Deputy Fire Chief Manny Muzquiz of the Laramie County Fire Authority, the girl was still unresponsive, the affidavit says.
When he got to the scene, Haney told Muzquiz that the girl “had been sleeping a couple minutes ago,” the affidavit says. “Haney had then started CPR on EJ for two to three minutes before Muzquiz’s arrival.
Based on his own observations, Muzquiz told Detective Martinez that Haney’s story didn’t add up, in his opinion.
“When Muzquiz began to provide medical treatment to EJ, he noted that her extremities seemed cold to the touch, even while Muzquiz was wearing rubber gloves,” according to the affidavit. “Muzquiz suspected that EJ hadn’t been breathing for longer than Haney had initially said.”
Broken Bones
Haney had agreed earlier that morning to babysit the 10-month-old girl and met his girlfriend at a local grocery store to pick her up, the affidavit says. Although in a relationship, the couple maintained separate residences.
He returned home at about 8 a.m., fed her a bottle about 30 minutes later, then put the infant down for a nap in her crib in the master bedroom, the affidavit says.
“EJ appeared normal when Haney laid her down,” Martinez wrote, adding that she “woke up several times over the next hour.”
Haney would then rub her back and the baby fell back to sleep, he told detectives. About an hour later, Haney discovered her unconscious when he came out of the bathroom.
After doing CPR for two or three minutes, Haney “called 911 because EJ ‘still didn’t have a pulse,’” according to Martinez’s affidavit. “While he was performing CPR, Haney said some sort of liquid came out of EJ’s mouth.”
The months that followed included a series of painstaking examinations of the little girl’s body and other medical tests to determine just how she died.
The cause of death was officially ruled as asphyxiation, but doctors reported finding the girl had suffered numerous broken bones in the weeks leading up to her death. The fractures were in various states of healing, the affidavit says.
“X-ray scans were performed on her body. The scans revealed a fracture in her left humerus bone near her shoulder, as well as fractured bones in each of her legs,” the document continues. “The fractures were in various stages of healing.”
The doctor performing the examination reported “the fractures were highly concerning, and they were suggestive of child abuse,” the affidavit says.
The girl’s mother also told detectives that her daughter had shown some signs of being in pain in the weeks leading up to her death.
“SS discussed her observations regarding EJ using her limbs less before her death,” Martinez wrote. “SS noticed EJ’s legs and feet appeared swollen around March 6 or 7.
“She attributed this to a possible allergic reaction to the medication she was on due to an earache.”
Those Ring Cameras
Haney has a number of Ring surveillance cameras in his house and around his property, the affidavit says.
They’re motion-activated and automatically record and upload video to Amazon cloud servers.
Select Ring cameras at Haney’s house had sections of video deleted by someone with administrative access to Haney’s Ring account, according to the affidavit.
Those sections were from just over a minute before emergency responders got to the home.
“There were cameras located in the living room, kitchen, downstairs area, master bedroom, and outdoor cameras,” the affidavit says. “The camera in the master bedroom was usually turned toward a wall to save battery life.
“It was only turned inward when EJ was napping and Haney and SS left the house to go into the yard.”
After getting a warrant for the video from Amazon, the sheriff’s office examined the footage that seemed to have “a 15-minute gap before the living room camera is activated again.”
“At approximately 9:40:34, a sound was recorded that is believed to be a scream from EJ,” the affidavit says.
“The information provided by Amazon revealed that on March 26, 2025, the contents of the camera identified as ‘Living Room’ had been manipulated,” the document continues. “Clips created at approximately 9:20 hours and 9:26 hours were deleted at approximately 10:13:47 hours and 10:13:36 hours, respectively.”
That was about 76 seconds before the first deputy responding to Haney’s home arrived, which would’ve been when Haney said he was giving the infant CPR.
Haney initially denied deleting any of his Ring video files, Detective Martinez wrote.
“When Haney was confronted with the fact that Ring footage had been deleted on the morning of March 26, 2025, he claimed he had no memory of deleting it,” the affidavit says. “He claimed he did not know why he would have deleted any footage that morning.”
Martinez wrote that it would be difficult for someone to accidentally delete video from the Amazon servers.
“It takes approximately eight very deliberate actions to access the Ring application, then delete two Ring doorbell videos, which includes answering the question ‘Delete Event? Deleted events cannot be recovered’ two different times,” the affidavit says.
Haney said he had no answer to that, only that he must have deleted them accidentally.
Could Get Life
While it took almost a year to gather the evidence showing the 10-month-old was allegedly killed and didn’t die a natural death, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office never stopped working on the case, Sheriff Brian Kozak says in a Friday video about Haney’s arrest.
“The investigation began almost a year ago when the death occurred on March 25, 2025,” he said. “I’d like to thank our detectives for painstakingly following all the evidence and confirming forensic aspects of this case before making an arrest.
“Crimes involving children are always difficult to deal with, and my condolences go to the families involved.”
Judge Forwood set an April 1 preliminary hearing for Haney, which will determine if there’s enough evidence to support the felony charges.
If convicted of first-degree murder, he could get life in prison. The death penalty isn’t a consideration in this case because there’s no evidence of premeditation, Hackl told Cowboy State Daily after Monday’s initial appearance.
Aggravated child abuse carries a punishment of up to 25 years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
