It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, October 23rd. I’m Mac Watson.
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A Lander man was convinced traditional traps would never capture the celebrity stray dog Diya at Split Rock Rest Area near Jeffrey City, so he secretly coaxed her to walk 90 miles to his home. Cowboy State Daily’s Emma Jane Jackson reports the hiker, who wants to remain anonymous, said, “She followed me and my dog every step of the way.”
“Diya showed up at the Split Rock Rest area in mid-September, and based on her demeanor, she seems to be domesticated. She loves other dogs and she loves kids, but she's very cautious about adults and even more cautious about any kind of confinement. So, getting her into a kennel or on a leash proved to be incredibly tricky. She's also very smart. She was dodging attempts to try to feed her tranquilizer. This anonymous man also didn't loop anyone in on his plans beforehand. I'm in a group chat with Mark Lewis and several of the other volunteers, and Diya disappeared from the rest area on Friday night. Unbeknownst to everyone, she had started that 90-mile walk. So, at that time, people were fearing the worst. The unexpected plan is a happy ending for Diya, who has now been renamed Juniper. Mark Lewis said that he fully trusts that she's in good hands and she's off to a great life.”
Diya first arrived at the remote Fremont County rest stop in mid-September, quickly winning the hearts of dozens of locals while frustrating every effort to capture her.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Albany County Sheriff's race is a genuine feud as the two high-profile law enforcement officers sharply criticize each other. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports it casts the controversy of a high death rate in Sheriff Aaron Appelhans' jail against opponent Daron Wyatt's use-of-force history.
“They're definitely criticizing each other. Wyatt said that he's busting out a semi-retirement because he sees problems and issues, liability risks at the sheriff's office, whereas Applehans is pointing to the you know these past use-of-force incidents like, ‘whoa, Albany County, do we want this again?’ Because they had a really controversial office- involved shooting in 2018 so they are you know in the political metaphorical sense they're at each other's throats. As far as projections for who might win are concerned, it's hard to tell because this truly is a purple county. Being a Republican doesn't guarantee the win. Being a Democrat doesn't guarantee a win, which makes it interesting to watch going into the general election.”
Appelhans, who is 45 and originally from Denver, has spent his entire adult life in Laramie, where he got his law-enforcement start at the University of Wyoming Police Department 16 years ago. The 59-year-old Wyatt, has 38 years of law-enforcement experience, including as a homicide and cold-case detective.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Colorado man accused of searching for “cliffs near me” before killing his wife by driving off a cliff has returned to Wyoming and is being held on a $5 million bond for murder. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports police say the truck accelerated to 57 mph before going off the cliff.
“46-year-old Forrest Wood was being held in a Colorado detention center in September, but he has since been extradited to Wyoming. He had initial appearance October 12, and this week he waived his preliminary hearing, which moves his murder case to Carbon County District Court. The case stems from a June 3 crash outside of Saratoga, where the couple was driving around before he started searching, allegedly, ‘cliffs near me,’ and then drove off a cliff. They both initially survived the crash. However, she died sometime later. When investigators started digging, they found that Wood had used his cell phone after the crash, but no attempts to call 911 were made.”
Wood told investigators the trip was supposed to give him and his wife time to talk about their troubled marriage.
Read the full story HERE.
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Deadly diseases called bluetongue and EHD that leave deer with bloody foam coming from their noses and mouths have hit parts of Wyoming this year, especially whitetails. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports the disease, which has hit North Dakota hard, can kill up to 90% of a herd.
“They're transmitted through mid bites to wildlife, deer, elk, pronghorn, and basically they cause really nasty, horrible deaths. Basically the animals just kind of choked to death on their own blood because it causes really nasty, internal hemorrhaging. The midges that spread this disease, they like wet areas. One retired biologist, Joe Sandrini, told me that the midges tend to thrive in long-standing mud, and whitetails live along river bottoms and places like that, where there's going to be more of these constantly wet, muddy conditions where the midges are going to be. Hence, when there's an outbreak, the whitetailed deer tend to get hit first and hardest.”
Retired game warden and biologist Joe Sandrini tells Cowboy State Daily that one of the worst outbreaks he ever saw hit the Black Hills region a few years ago. “They were picking up dead deer every day in the town of Hulett,” added Sandrini, who retired from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in 2024.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily News continues now….
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A candidate running for Albany County coroner is wondering why the DUI arrest of the sitting coroner last October never went public, so he's raising it. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports Sally King “was too intoxicated to have driven to the scene of the dead body,” the police report reads.
“In pretty much any Wyoming community, if a public official is getting a DUI, it's going to leak, and the news is going to pick it up. But that didn't seem to have happened for a year in the case of Sally King, Albany County coroner, who was arrested October 2025. She ultimately pleaded guilty, and now that she is facing Republican Ryan Hershey going into the general election, Hershey has asked, ‘why this never really reached the public?’ It did finally surface when Hershey obtained the police report and made it public.”
King confirmed the arrest in a Wednesday email to Cowboy State Daily, saying, “I am deeply sorry and regret the decisions I made that day that led up to the situation.” Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne dad says his daughter’s SUV was vandalized with dog feces, oil, spray paint, garbage and broken glass after an argument with her boyfriend. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports he says his daughter is scared for her life, and with no arrest in 7 weeks, he “loses sleep every night.”
“John Becker explained that his daughter was in a toxic relationship, and in September, she and her now-ex got into an argument. When she left the Fox Hill Apartments in Casper later that night, she found her car in the parking lot had been vandalized with dog feces, oil, oil filters, spray paint, and even shards of glass smeared across the hood, the windows, and around the car. 18-year-old Tagan Becker had just bought this car. It was nearly brand new. In fact, she hadn't even made her first payment on it, so she was devastated. When she took the car to be cleaned and detailed, the bill was $1,500. Ultimately, the Beckers would like restitution, but they would also like some kind of disciplinary action against this person, who she says has made her feel afraid.”
Becker said his daughter and the unidentified young adult had been dating for a year. Becker added the young man spent time with the family and was welcomed into their home.
Read the full story HERE.
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Carbon County Undersheriff Shawn Kelley abandoned his vacation Sunday to help rescue a hunter in the Snowy Range. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that Sheriff Alex Bakken said he wasn't surprised.
“Kelley has been under sheriff for the past eight years, and said he always takes his phone with him when he goes on vacation, especially when he's up in the Snowy Range, so that if he is needed on a search or if they're shorthanded, that he is available. He was watching Sunday afternoon football at his family cabin during a week of hunting, and got a call that another hunter about five miles from him believed he was having a heart attack. So Kelley responded in his side-by-side. He went up there and assisted in the search and went back to his cabin and continued his vacation.”
The unidentified man was stranded in rugged mountain terrain near Ryan Brothers Lake, about five miles from Kelley's cabin. He was airlifted to a hospital, where his condition is unknown.
Read the full story HERE.
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An SUV crashed through the glass storefront of a Casper nail salon with people inside Thursday, shattering windows and scattering debris. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports the salon's owner was shaken long after it happened.
“Thursday afternoon, I spoke to Top Nail Salon owner Ngoc Nguyen, and she said that it was so scary. She was in the building when this SUV slammed into the glass doors, shattering them completely. She says, ‘Luckily, no one was hurt, and the driver appeared to be okay.’ She had gotten out of the vehicle and was walking around when law enforcement arrived. The Storefront Safety Council, which studies these types of crashes, says that this happens more than 100 times every day in the United States. Most common causes listed include operator error, someone hitting what they think is the brake and accidentally hitting the gas pedal, as well as impairment.”
The driver, an older woman whom Nguyen said appeared to be using oxygen, also appeared to be OK immediately afterward.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
