Crime and Courts Reporter

Clair McFarland

Clair McFarland is a general assignment reporter for Cowboy State Daily and is based in Riverton, Wyoming. She specializes in crime and court reporting and social issues coverage. Clair also writes a twice-monthly column on motherhood and country living.

Previously, Clair wrote for The Ranger, the Lander Journal and the Wind River News. She is an award-winning journalist, columnist and poet, who joined Cowboy State Daily on Valentine's Day, 2022.

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Latest from Clair McFarland

The body of James Bitner of Black Hawk, Colorado, was found over the July 4 holiday in 2023 at the Mirror Lake Recreation Area in Albany County, Wyoming.

Adopted Son Who Dumped Dad's Body Near Mirror Lake Gets 24 Years

The adopted son of a Colorado man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for killing his father after an argument, then dumping the body at Wyoming’s Mirror Lake. Investigators traced the crime using cellphone data and confessions to friends.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 16, 2025

Sheriff Warns Doing TikTok 'Door Kick Challenge' In Wyoming Can Get You Killed

A Wyoming sheriff warns that the viral TikTok "Door Kick Challenge" could have deadly consequences. One of the people who championed Wyoming's Stand Your Ground law wholeheartedly agrees.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 15, 2025

Widow Of Foster Friess Pledges $1 Million To Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA

Lynn Friess, widow of Wyoming businessman Foster Friess whose $10,000 donation kick-started Turning Point USA, pledged 100 times that Sunday. Her $1 million donation reflects her husband’s belief in Kirk and desire for TPUSA to “grow even stronger," she wrote.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 15, 2025

A couple who paid a $24,325 fee to Teton County government to build a home on property they already owned is suing, calling the charge “extortion.” The fee also is an unconstitutional “taking” without compensation, the lawsuit claims.

Couple Can Keep Suing Teton County Over Claim It ‘Extorted’ Permit Fees

A judge has ruled a couple building a home on their property can continue suing Teton County over a $24,325 fee they claim the county “extorted” them to pay. A county motion to dismiss the case was denied Thursday.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 15, 2025

President Trump did not call for unity Friday in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing, instead calling the radical left “vicious.” Wyoming Democrats say they’re repulsed by the response, but not surprised. They include, clockwise from top left, state Rep. Mike Yin, Rep. Ken Chestek, Sen. Chris Rothfuss and Rep. Karlee Provenza.

Wyoming Democrats Saddened By Trump Reaction To Charlie Kirk Shooting

Wyoming Democrats said they were saddened Friday that President Trump hasn’t called for unity following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Trump, instead, called the radical left “vicious."

Clair McFarlandSeptember 13, 2025

Wyoming legislators on Thursday, including state Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, debated how to prosecute gambling houses and dealers who operate under the regulatory table — without jailing “grandma and her friends" for friendly poker games.

Legislators Work To Crack Down On Gambling ‘Houses,’ Not Bust Friendly Poker Games

Wyoming legislators on Thursday debated how to prosecute gambling houses and dealers who operate under the regulatory table — without jailing “grandma and her friends" for friendly poker games.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 13, 2025

Green River Woman Accused Of Trying To Kill Disabled Husband With Bailey's Bottle

A former Green River High School counselor is accused to repeatedly smashing a full bottle of Bailey’s liquor into the head of her disabled husband. She was charged Thursday with attempted second-degree murder and abusing a vulnerable adult.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 12, 2025

Hulett faces a heated debate as an anonymous pamphlet proposes changing the school’s “Red Devil” mascot to a hawk. It's promted confusion, community outcry, and school board members seeking answers ahead of a pivotal meeting in October.

Push To Change Hulett Red Devils Mascot Sparks Outcry

Hulett faces a heated debate as an anonymous pamphlet proposes changing the school’s “Red Devil” mascot to a hawk, prompting confusion and community outcry.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 11, 2025

Saviol Saint Jean, right, the Haitian trucker who plowed into a crash scene nearly three years ago, killing Rawlins EMT Tyeler Harris, top, and seriously injuring another, Tiffany Gruetzmacher, was found guilty on all charges by a jury Thursday. The trucker collapsed and wept as the verdicts were read.

Jury Finds Haitian Trucker Guilty In Crash That Killed Rawlins EMT

The Haitian trucker who plowed into a crash scene nearly three years ago, killing one Rawlins EMT and seriously injuring another was found guilty on all charges by a jury Thursday. The trucker collapsed and wept as the verdicts were read.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 11, 2025

Wyoming Businessman Foster Friess Kick-Started Charlie Kirk's Turning Point Group

The person credited with kick-starting Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization was a rags-to-riches Wyoming businessman who ran for state governor in 2018. Foster Friess saw something in the young conservative crusader, who was killed Wednesday.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 11, 2025

Clair McFarland & Rod Miller: Dying For Speech Can't Be The New Normal

Clair McFarland and Rod Miller write: “To accept what happened to Charlie Kirk as par for the course is to say that, in America, bullets are more important than ideas. Don’t take the bait.”

Clair McFarland & Rod MillerSeptember 11, 2025

Jury To Deliberate Fate Of Haitian Trucker Who Killed Rawlins EMT On I-80

Whether Saviol Saint Jean was “threading the needle” to keep driving or reacting poorly to a chaotic scene when he smashed into an ambulance, killing one EMT and injuring another nearly three years ago is now up to a jury after a grueling five-day trial.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 11, 2025

Other Authors

Orion Schlesinger, 18, pleaded “not guilty” and ”not guilty by reason of mental illness” in Sublette County District Court.

Man Accused In Big Piney Ambush Says He Had No Idea Friend Was About To Be Killed

A Big Piney man accused of plotting the compound bow ambush death of his 23-year-old friend around Feb. 1 told a judge last week that he had no idea the alleged murder was about to unfold as he walked to his friend’s house that frigid night.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 10, 2025

Taking the stand on day four of his vehicular homicide trial in Rock Springs, Haitian trucker Saviol Saint Jean said moments after the accident, which killed an EMT, he called to God saying, "Oh my God, oh my God, what happened?"

Haitian Trucker Takes Stand In His Defense: 'Oh My God, What Happened?

Taking the stand on day four of his vehicular homicide trial in Green River, Haitian trucker Saviol Saint Jean said moments after the accident, which killed an EMT, he called to God saying, "Oh my God, oh my God, what happened?"

Clair McFarlandSeptember 10, 2025

Wyoming law enforcement officials are warning residents of a scheme whose perpetrators claim child porn has been planted on someone's device, to extort money. It starts with a letter through the U.S. Mail bearing a Canada stamp.

Wyoming Targeted By Threat Of Child Porn Planting In Extortion Scheme

Wyoming law enforcement officials are warning about a scheme whose perpetrators claim child porn has been planted on people's devices to extort money. It starts with a letter through the U.S. Mail bearing a Canada stamp.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 09, 2025

The question is not whether Saviol Saint Jean, 46, drove a commercial semitruck and trailer into a parked ambulance and two EMTs walking nearby on the morning of Dec. 21, 2022, as the medics responded to a collision between a commercial truck and enclosed trailer that left both lanes blocked. The question for the jury is whether he behaved “recklessly” enough to commit aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated assault.

State Rests In Trial Of Haitian Trucker Who Killed Rawlins EMT With Semi

The state rested its case Monday in the trial of a Haitian trucker who plowed into an ambulance on Interstate 80 in 2022. The collision killed EMT Tyeler Harris and seriously hurt another in a chaotic scene.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 09, 2025

A home on Westview Drive in Riverton where a large law enforcement presence converged starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025.

FBI Responds To Riverton Man Accused Of Threatening Neighbor With Homemade Napalm

The FBI’s bomb squad responded Sunday to a home in Riverton on reports that a man threatened his neighbor with homemade napalm, police say. Upset with dogs barking at his cats, he’s accused of leaving a note saying, “It’s your turn to die for those dogs."

Clair McFarlandSeptember 08, 2025

Clair McFarland: This Wicked Dodge Charger Really Has Me Thinking

Clair McFarland writes: “‘Oh boy. Dad’s loaner cars are not just loaners. They’re rodded Mustangs or time machines. I’m not kidding – the man once restored a DeLorean. So I got the least conspicuous loaner, really, when Dad handed over Mom’s race rod."

Clair McFarlandSeptember 06, 2025

After businessman Reid Rasner sued former Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard for defamation over public allegations of sexual misconduct, Bouchard doubled down on his claims in a series of court filings.

Bouchard Doubles Down On Misconduct Claim Against Rasner In Court Filings

After Wyoming businessman Reid Rasner sued former state Sen. Anthony Bouchard for defamation, Bouchard doubled down, in a series of court filings, on some of the sexual misconduct allegations that landed him in court in the first place.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 06, 2025

Carbon County EMT Tiffany Gruetzmacher, left, was seriously hurt and disabled when a commercial truck plowed into the crash scene she was responding to in December 2022. Her fellow EMT Tyeler Harris, right, was killed.

Haitian Trucker Trial Day Two: Surviving EMT’s Emotional Testimony

In the second day of trial for a Haitian truck driver accused of slamming into two EMTs — killing one — the EMT who survived weathered emotional questioning Friday in Sweetwater County Court.

Clair McFarlandSeptember 06, 2025

Rawlins EMT Tyeler Harris was killed Dec. 21, 2022, and his partner working on an ambulance was seriously hurt, when a semitrailer plowed into them while they were responding to a crash on Interstate 80.

Trial Starts For Haitian Trucker Accused Of Plowing Into Crash Scene, Killing EMT

Trial started Thursday for a Haitian trucker accused of plowing into a crash scene on I-80, killing one EMT and severely injuring another. One witness testified the horrific scene is “imprinted in my mind."

Clair McFarlandSeptember 05, 2025