Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from the Goshen County attorney.
Nearly five years after a nighttime crash killed two young people on a rural Goshen County highway, Wyoming prosecutors are now pursuing a criminal charge against the Colorado truck driver involved.
Conan Dean Ferguson, 54, of Briggsdale, Colorado, is wanted on a Goshen County warrant stemming from the Nov. 17, 2021, crash that killed 18-year-old Korey Bowers of La Grange and 19-year-old Emma Nelson of Nebraska.
The criminal case follows an investigation by the Wyoming Highway Patrol that stretched through much of 2022.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Samuel Szott was assigned to investigate the crash in March 2022 and completed his work that October, WHP spokesman Aaron Brown told Cowboy State Daily.
"Keep in mind troopers on the crash team do not do crash reconstruction full time, so it is fairly normal for a crash investigation, especially those involving a fatality, to take several months," Brown said.
WHP then forwarded all of its evidence to prosecutors.
Multiple Cowboy State Daily inquiries to Goshen County prosecuting attorney Eric Boyer since early July about the criminal charge were not responded to by publication time.
Shortly after the story was published, Boyer responded that "pursuant to applicable ethical rules ... and in the interests of justice, my office has no comment on this pending matter."
A Fatal Night
A crash report released after the wreck shows it was just before 10 p.m. Nov. 17, 2021, when Bowers and Nelson were traveling on U.S. Highway 85 south of Hawk Springs.
Bowers was driving a Ford Taurus with Nelson in the passenger seat.
Near milepost 69.5, Bowers slowed or stopped with his left turn signal on as he prepared to turn onto Wyoming Highway 313, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol's account of the crash.
Behind him, Ferguson was driving a northbound Volvo tractor-trailer.
As Ferguson attempted to pass the Taurus on the right shoulder, Bowers turned right.
The semi T-boned the Taurus, striking it in the side with enough force to overturn the car.
Bowers was wearing his seat belt and survived the initial impact. An ambulance rushed him to Banner Health Community Hospital in Torrington, where he died from his injuries.
Nelson died at the crash scene.
Ferguson and a passenger riding in the semi were not injured.
The deaths marked Wyoming's 100th and 101st traffic fatalities of 2021.
More Than Numbers
Bowers and Nelson had come to southeastern Wyoming to attend the same small Bible college.
They were freshmen at Frontier School of the Bible in La Grange, and their families described them as dear friends.
Bowers died on his 18th birthday.
He had spent the previous five years with his family doing missionary work in Beardmore, Ontario, Canada.
Bowers was so determined to attend Frontier with his older brother, Caleb, that he finished his final three years of high school in two.
Nelson traveled to Wyoming from Nebraska.
She grew up in Cedar Bluffs and Juniata before enrolling at Frontier.
In her obituary, her family remembered a young woman who was fiercely loyal to her friends and protective of her younger siblings.
Families File Lawsuit
The families of Bowers and Nelson filed a wrongful-death lawsuit July 29, 2022, in U.S. District Court for Wyoming as representatives of their children's estates.
The lawsuit named Ferguson, McLane Company Inc., Transco Inc. and Manos Zouridakis, the passenger in Ferguson's truck, as defendants.
The families demanded a jury trial.
McLane and Transco filed an answer Sept. 13, 2022, denying allegations and asserting a series of affirmative defenses.
Ferguson was served with the lawsuit Aug. 27 and filed his own answer and affirmative defenses Sept. 19, court records show.
Maren Chaloupka, an attorney who represented the Nelson family in the lawsuit, later discussed the case while testifying before the Nebraska Legislature in February 2025.
Chaloupka told lawmakers the litigation uncovered what she characterized as lax hiring practices and repeated warnings involving dangerous driving. She said the families were determined to push the motor carrier to make changes.
"Money alone was not going to make this case go away," Chaloupka testified.
She said the families were prepared to take the case to trial if the motor carrier would not change its practices.
"In the end, that motor carrier agreed it would make changes," Chaloupka said.
Her testimony did not specify exactly what changes the motor carrier ultimately made.
The civil lawsuit was separate from any criminal proceedings.
Homicide By Vehicle Charge
As of Monday morning, Ferguson had not been arrested or made an official court appearance.
A warrant for his arrest was issued June 30 for homicide by vehicle, a misdemeanor alleging a driver operated a vehicle in a criminally negligent manner and that conduct caused another person's death.
The charge carries up to one year in jail.
Cowboy State Daily reached out to Goshen County and Prosecuting Attorney Eric Boyer seeking more information about the homicide-by-vehicle charge, what led prosecutors to pursue the case now and what occurred after WHP forwarded its investigation to prosecutors in October 2022, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Nearly five years have passed since the night Bowers and Nelson were killed.
Bowers would now be 22. Nelson would be 23.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
