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[{"type":"text","text":"Darwin runner-up for the day...."}]

Bonus vid 2 8 13 26

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

<title>Bonus Video 2: Thursday, August 13, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Darwin runner-up for the day....

Bonus Video 2: Thursday, August 13, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

A Gillette man faces eight felony charges related to alleged sexual assaults and beatings he gave a woman, during which he reportedly called her his “little beat victim.”

Luke K. Busca is charged with five counts of sexual assault in the first degree and three counts of strangulation of a household member stemming from his alleged actions recently against a woman who had been living with him at his residence for a month, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Tuesday before Gillette Circuit Court Judge Greg Steward.

Court officials released Busca's name late Wednesday after using his initials during the hearing.

The five sexual assault in the first degree charges all carry a penalty of not less than five years or more than 50 years in prison. The strangulation of a household member charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Gillette Police Department Detective Sgt. Ryan Mahylis testified Tuesday that when police initially contacted the woman Aug. 1 at a friend’s residence they found her with a black eye on the right side of her face and injuries along her left jawline. She also had bite marks and bruises, and was complaining about pain to her abdomen and rib area.

Mahylis said the incident on the evening of July 31 started with an argument about incense burning in a sink. Busca told the woman that he was going to a friend’s home. When he returned around 2 a.m., he found the door locked and became angry.

Once in the bedroom, Mahylis told County Attorney Nathan Henkes, the woman said Busca made sexual advances that she refused. He then allegedly grabbed her by the hair and threw her face down on the bed, put her in a choke hold and began to sexually assault her from behind with his fingers.

Mahylis testified that the woman told police after the sexual assault she was able to kick him off but during the struggle he tried to hit her and then head-butted her. She was then told to leave the residence.

“She had indicated that she had no ability to leave due to not having a ride and Busca had indicated to her that people have been shot for not leaving a residence,” Mahylis said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Message To Friends"}]

The victim then left the residence and walked to a park, where she tried to contact friends and was unsuccessful. About 3:30 a.m. she received a message from Busca to return to the residence.

Mahylis testified that police officers confirmed the victim had sent messages as well as photos of her injuries to others.

The woman returned to the residence, where it “became a continuation of the previous assault,” Mahylis said.

The woman told police he tried to force her to perform oral sex on him and then grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the bed. While she was in a chokehold, he allegedly used his fingers to assault her sexually and then turned her over and raped her, Mahylis testified.

Mahylis said the woman was told to stop fighting and when he threw her on her back to assault her sexually he also placed his hand around her neck and continued to strangle her. At some point, the woman told police, Busca asked her if she knew how easy it would be for him to “break” her neck.

The two then eventually fell asleep and the woman woke up and remained at the residence. She told police she was doing laundry when Busca woke up and told her that “he didn’t get to finish” and “wanted her to finish him,” referring to a sexual act, Mahylis said.

Mahylis said the woman also noticed a firearm that was normally on a nightstand and asked if he had thought about “murking”, or killing, her.

“He had indicated that he thought about it,” Mahylis said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'My Little Beat Victim'"}]

Mahylis also confirmed that as part of the conversation between the two after Busca awoke, he asked the woman: “How is my little beat victim? Did you learn your place?”

Gillette police learned of the incident after being called to the house of one of the woman’s friends Aug. 1, when she reported the incident.

The woman was taken to Campbell County Memorial Hospital for an examination by a qualified SANE nurse to obtain any evidence of a sexual assault. The woman complained of pain and vaginal bleeding, Mahylis said.

When officers went to Busca’s residence they found him outside. He initially told officers he had been at a friend’s house and returned about 2 a.m. He indicated he had taken medications and did not recall what happened after that, Mahylis said.

Mahylis said after Busca's arrest and a search warrant, officers searched the home and found a bottle of trazodone and a prescription for 45 pills. When they counted the pills, 45 remained in the container.

Mahylis testified that Busca changed his story and later admitted he lied about coming home, taking the medications, and passing out.

After the detective’s testimony, Henkes asked Steward to upgrade a reckless endangerment charge to strangulation of a household member. 

Defense attorney Ronald Wirthwein objected and said the affidavit did not indicate that breathing was impeded, it only referred to “shaking the throat and windpipe back and forth but no indication of an impeding of breathing or blood.”

The judge ruled the charge could be upgraded to strangulation.

Steward then told Busca he was sending the case to district court, where he would be arraigned and able to make a plea. He asked him if he had any questions.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“No, your honor,” Busca said."}]

Gillette police scaled

<title>Gillette Man Accused Of Raping Woman, Calling Her His 'Little Beat Victim' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Gillette man who allegedly raped a woman and called her his “little beat victim” was charged Tuesday with eight felonies. Investigators say the woman had a black eye, bite marks, bruises, and rib and abdomen pain.

Gillette Man Accused Of Raping Woman, Calling Her His 'Little Beat Victim'

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Around Wyoming

Public Safety

A violent storm ripped through southern Campbell County on Wednesday afternoon, tearing roofs from buildings, demolishing a vacant mobile home, flipping a camper upside down and requiring emergency crews to rescue four people from a damaged home.

Whether it was a tornado isn't official yet, but witnesses might have caught something on video, Campbell County Fire Marshal Stuart Burnham told Cowboy State Daily.

The storm struck near Rattlesnake Road and South Highway 59 shortly after noon, leaving pieces of roofs and other debris scattered across the rural landscape.

"Crews were called out to South Highway 59 near Rattlesnake Road (at about 12:36 p.m.) for a report of occupants stuck in a residence due to a possible tornado," Burnham said.

When firefighters arrived, Burnham said, crews were able to help the four people out of the house. All four were evaluated by emergency medical personnel, and Burnham said he did not believe anyone suffered significant injuries.

Firefighters then began working through the surrounding neighborhood, checking other damaged properties to make sure nobody else was trapped or hurt.

"We have not located anybody with significant injuries, fortunately," Burnham said.

By midafternoon, the response was beginning to wind down as officials turned their attention toward recovery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Roofs Ripped Off"}]

Photos from the area show metal roofing ripped from structures, debris scattered across fields and the camper thrown onto its side.

"The structure that sustained the most damage, yeah, the roof was removed from it," Burnham said. "There are multiple buildings with roofs that have been removed. There was a mobile home that was demolished as well. However, that mobile home was vacant."

[{"type":"text","text":"Exactly how many properties were damaged was unknown Wednesday afternoon."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Multiple,\" Burnham said."}]

Crews were still surveying the neighborhood, and some damage might not be discovered until property owners return home and inspect their land and buildings.

Powder River Energy Corp. was checking electrical infrastructure throughout the affected area.

The storm had moved out of Campbell County shortly after 2 p.m., and officials said there was no longer an immediate threat. South Highway 59 remained open.

[{"type":"text","text":"The American Red Cross was also preparing to help."}]

Robby Gallob said the organization was "working to get into contact with the primary family affected."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Did A Tornado Touch Down?"}]

The original emergency call reported a possible tornado, but nobody had called Campbell County's 911 center to report actually seeing a funnel, Burnham said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Highway 59 is heavily traveled, making that absence notable."}]

"That's not to say that there wasn't one," Burnham said. "It just wasn't necessarily noticed."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officials were beginning to find potential evidence Wednesday afternoon."}]

Burnham said responders were talking with people who had been in the area, and shortly before speaking with Cowboy State Daily he had watched a couple of videos taken during the storm.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It looks like they may have had something on camera,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Those videos could now help meteorologists piece together what happened."}]

The National Weather Service office in Rapid City, South Dakota, will make the official determination about whether a tornado touched down.

Campbell County officials were coordinating with NWS on a damage assessment, but Burnham didn't yet know when meteorologists would arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Familiar Date"}]

Exactly 21 years earlier, on Aug. 12, 2005, one of Wyoming's deadliest tornadoes tore through Wright, about 30 miles south of Gillette.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jim Konyn remembers that afternoon."}]

He wasn't in Wright, he was working at Midway Supply in Gillette, an oilfield supply company located off Lakeway Road.

[{"type":"text","text":"Konyn and his coworkers happened to be outside when the sirens began."}]

From Gillette, they couldn't quite see the tornado, Konyn recalled, but they could see the storm looming in the distance.

[{"type":"text","text":"The next day, Konyn had to travel through the Wright area."}]

"I've been here for a long time, and I just remember that day because there's a lot of damage," he said.

The tornado Konyn remembers touched down north of Wright before moving southeast into town and striking the Cottonwood Mobile Home Park.

The Wyoming State Climate Office said the F2 tornado killed two people and injured 13. About 40 mobile homes were destroyed. 

Twenty-one years later, Konyn was again watching severe weather move across Campbell County.

Wednesday morning and early afternoon brought rain, lightning and thunder around Gillette, he said. Then a severe thunderstorm warning appeared for Campbell County.

Konyn recalled the warning tracking the storm from around Savageton toward the area between Gillette and Wright and the mines. He said the warning mentioned hail around the size of ping pong balls.

"They never said no tornado," he said. "They just said a severe storm."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Campbell County Tornadoes"}]

Two summers ago, an EF2 tornado struck the North Antelope Rochelle Mine south of Gillette, flipping vehicles and empty railroad cars and tearing portions of roofs and walls from mine buildings.

[{"type":"text","text":"Seven people were injured, but nobody was killed."}]

Then, just seven weeks ago, on June 22, another EF2 tornado crossed Campbell County between the Savageton and Wright areas.

The National Weather Service estimated its peak winds at 115 mph. It traveled nearly 13 miles, damaged a home and snapped more than a dozen power poles. No injuries or deaths were reported.

Now Campbell County is waiting to learn whether Aug. 12 will be added to that list.

For the moment, Burnham said the important news was that despite the destruction responders had not found anyone seriously hurt.

Tornado 1 8 13 26

<title>Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage

Business & Tourism

About 20 miles southwest of Independence Rock, where Wyoming Highway 220 meets U.S. Highway 287, is the blink-and-you-miss-it outpost of Muddy Gap.

[{"type":"text","text":"There's not much there. But there is gasoline."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"On Wednesday, a gallon of regular cost $5.99."}]

"I think it's pretty ridiculous," said Casey Long, a Pavillion native who has a house in Riverton and has spent 26 years working in Wyoming's oil fields.

That price stood out even during a week when Wyoming motorists were already paying considerably more at the pump. AAA put the statewide average for regular unleaded at $4.24 Wednesday, meaning the Muddy Gap price is roughly 42% higher than the Wyoming average.

[{"type":"text","text":"The difference adds up quick. "}]

Fifteen gallons at the statewide average would cost about $63.50. At Muddy Gap, the same fill-up rings up at $90.

Yet out in the middle of nowhere, motorists don't have the luxury of shopping around.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Very Sparse'"}]

The lonely station sits at a crossroads connecting travelers headed toward Rawlins, Casper, Lander and Riverton.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming Highway 220 runs nearly 73 miles between Muddy Gap and Casper."}]

On Wednesday, the parking lot offered a snapshot of who depends on the place.

A camper from Minnesota. An RV from Indiana. Another car with Minnesota plates.

[{"type":"text","text":"A couple of motorcyclists were there, too."}]

Ron Star and his riding companion, Nikki Knuckles, had been in South Dakota and were making their way west toward Reno, Nevada. Most places they'd encountered were charging around $4 a gallon, they said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"They knew Muddy Gap was going to be different."}]

Star said they look ahead for fuel stops because their motorcycles don't give them the option of simply driving until something cheaper appears.

One bike gets about 51 mpg, but its small tank gives it a range of about 80 miles. Typically, the riders begin looking for gasoline after 60 or 70 miles.

For Star, who frequently rides cross-country, that's part of traveling through places like Wyoming.

He said another gas station is usually within 50 or 60 miles, although he's encountered stretches approaching 80.

[{"type":"text","text":"In Nevada, he knows of a 100-mile stretch where he carries extra gas."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'We Get Some Angry Customers'"}]

Inside the station, Tavienna Lozier hears about it from motorists "all the time."

Lozier recently moved to Jeffrey City to be near her grandmother, Nancy Nuzum, who has managed the Muddy Gap station for about five years.

Nuzum now manages the operation from home, and Lozier came to help after her grandmother needed a crew to keep the station running.

"We get some angry customers," Lozier said. "We get some that know what to expect, especially being in the middle of nowhere."

She said the station gets its gasoline from Rawlins and they are charged heavily for it.

"They charge him a lot," she said of the station's owner, who lives in Florida.

The station did not provide its wholesale fuel price or delivery costs, so it's unclear how much of the $6 retail price is attributable to transportation, operating expenses or other costs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Going The Distance"}]

Running almost anything in Muddy Gap is different from a place like Casper.

Dozens of competing convenience stores aren't clustered around the next interchange. There isn't a large local population stopping for coffee on the way to work every morning.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, customers arrive from everywhere."}]

For travelers, the stop is a place to use the restroom, grab snacks or cigarettes, and pick up beer or wine before getting back on the road.

Lozier recalled recently serving travelers from Thailand whose son attends college in Idaho.

Truckers pull in, too. Some park behind the business when their driving hours run out, sleep and continue down the highway the next morning.

Summer brings recreational travelers and groups participating in pioneer treks through the historic trails country.

[{"type":"text","text":"Over the years, some travelers have literally left their marks."}]

Travelers passing through Muddy Gap have been leaving their names behind for years.

It is less a neighborhood gas station than a way station for people trying to get from one distant Wyoming place to another — a modern Independence Rock.

Lozier pointed out the names, hometowns, dates, drawings and messages scrawled across the ceiling and shelves of the store. 

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

[{"type":"text","text":"That dependence on the next available pump is familiar to Long."}]

His job has taken him all over Wyoming, and he still spends a lot of time on the road.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Every day I'm going somewhere,\" he said."}]

Long drives a diesel, so his prices aren't directly comparable with the $6 regular unleaded at Muddy Gap, but he's been watching the same geographic swings.

He said he filled up in Riverton at $5.09 a gallon for diesel, then noticed the price there had jumped to $5.25 the following day.

If he's traveling and encounters an unusually expensive station, Long said he'll keep going — provided the fuel gauge gives him that choice.

"If I'm traveling and I've got enough in the tank to make it somewhere else, I will," he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"That's the catch in Wyoming."}]

In Riverton, Long said, avoiding local prices could mean driving 24 miles to Lander or heading the other direction toward Shoshoni.

"You do because it's either that or you're driving 24 miles to Lander or going to Shoshoni the other way," he said of paying the local price.

[{"type":"text","text":"But paying $5.99 for a gallon is \"just insane,\" said Long. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"In A League Of Its Own"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Gasoline isn't cheap anywhere in Wyoming right now."}]

AAA's $4.236 statewide average Wednesday was up from $4.153 a week earlier and $3.877 a month ago. Diesel averaged $5.283.

Even within Wyoming, geography matters. AAA's county averages Wednesday ranged from about $3.87 in Goshen County to $4.72 in Teton County.

[{"type":"text","text":"That puts $6 well beyond even the expensive end of the county averages."}]

In fact, the regular unleaded at Muddy Gap was more expensive than Wyoming's statewide average for premium gasoline, $4.83, but with the next fuel stop over 40 miles away, travelers continue to pull up at the pumps. 

Bikers at muddy gap 2 8 12 26

<title>Zoinks! Gas Is $6 A Gallon In Muddy Gap — That's 42% Higher Than Wyoming Average | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If you need gas while traveling on Wyoming Highway 220 near Independence Rock, get ready to pay for it through the nose. Gas is selling for $6 a gallon — 42% higher than the state's average. "We get some angry customers," says manager Tavienna Lozier.

Zoinks! Gas Is $6 A Gallon In Muddy Gap — That's 42% Higher Than Wyoming Average

A 37-year-old Casper man faces potential prison time for allegedly driving a Polaris UTV side-by-side while intoxicated and causing serious injury to a passenger who fell off while sitting in the back on a cooler.

Michael Ray Watts is charged with driving under the influence with serious bodily injury after the incident Saturday evening in Alcova. A preliminary hearing on the charge is set for Aug. 27.

An arrest affidavit states that the victim as of Sunday was still on life support and had significant head injuries. Attempts to obtain an updated condition report Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Court records show Natrona County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of 24000 Lakeshore Drive about 8 p.m. Saturday for a report of a vehicle accident. They found a male on the ground bleeding from the face and head with significant injuries.

As two deputies administered first aid, they lost the victim’s pulse and began CPR.

“Soon after the CPR was administered the male regained consciousness,” the affidavit states. “Deputies continued to render aid until Natrona County fire personnel arrived and took over care of the patient.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Accelerated On Incline"}]

During an interview with Watts, he shared with a deputy that they was driving a 2021 Polaris RZR 1000 turbo when the victim came off the RZR. During the interview, the deputy could see that Watts eyes were bloodshot and glossy and he smelled of alcohol, the affidavit states.

Watts initially told the deputy that he two beers and a shot but later admitted to drinking two shots, four beers, and four or five Ranch Water cocktails.

Watts said he and two men and two women had been drinking at Alcova Lakeside Marina and just before 8 p.m. left with Watts driving the RZR. The victim and two women were sitting in the back on a cooler.

“Watts advised that he drove under the speed limit on Lakeshore Drive. When Watts turned into a trailer park … he stepped on the gas to go up an incline on the road,” the affidavit states. “Watts heard one of the females advise that (the victim) fell off.”

Watts told the deputy he stopped and got out to check on the man. Deputies arrived shortly after the incident.

Watts said one of the females told him the man slid off as he accelerated, but he did not see the man fall off.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Failed Field-Sobriety Test"}]

A field-sobriety test showed Watts could not maintain his balance, could not walk heel-to-toe, or walk a straight line. He also could not follow a direction to turn, swayed while trying to balance on one leg, hopped to balance, used his arms to balance and put his foot down — failing several field-sobriety tests.

Watts agreed to a chemical breath test at the Natrona County Detention Center at 10:16 p.m., two hours after the incident. He blew a .16% blood alcohol content, well above the legal limit of 0.08%.

The driving under the influence with serious bodily injury charge carries a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of not less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 or both.

Watts is currently free on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

Alcova michael watts 8 12 26

<title>Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper man faces prison time after authorities say he drove a side-by-side while intoxicated and caused a passenger to fall off a cooler in the back. The passenger is on life-support after sustaining head injuries in the fall at Alcova Reservoir.

Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall

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

Greg Johnson

Courts

A Tinder date gone horribly wrong ended with a Newcastle man dead with a hollow-point round in his chest and a South Dakota man facing a second-degree murder charge — and vastly different stories from the couple who had just met for a hook-up.

The woman Drake Alexander Ingalls of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, had driven nearly 90 minutes to meet this past weekend told investigators that Ingalls “did not need to shoot that gun at all.”

Ingalls, however, says he shot the other man in defense of his Tinder date after the woman screamed for “help” several times, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Zack Miller.

The shooting happened a little before 5 a.m. Sunday, and Ingalls had his initial court appearance Tuesday, where a Weston County Circuit Court judge gave him a $250,000 cash-only bond and set an Aug. 19 preliminary hearing.

By the time Newcastle police responded to the home of the victim, identified in court documents as Jason Greene, he was lying face-down on the floor and obviously dead, wrote Miller.

An officer “entered the trailer home and located the victim … lying face-down on the floor between the hallway and living room with a large pool of blood underneath his chest,” the affidavit says. “Officers and emergency medical personnel confirmed Greene was deceased.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What She Said"}]

In separate interviews with the woman and Ingalls, both told investigators how they met on Tinder and had been talking for anywhere from a couple weeks (according to her) to a few months (according to him) before Ingalls drove to Newcastle on Saturday so they could meet up, the affidavit says.

They had a room at a local hotel and had been drinking for hours by the time the woman got a text from Greene calling her a “whore,” Miller wrote.

The woman then allegedly proceeded to claim Greene had mistreated her, but later told investigators that Greene had “never assaulted her and the two were not in any physical altercation,” the affidavit says.

Upset after getting the text, the woman asked Ingalls to take her to Greene’s place “so she could talk to him,” Miller wrote.

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