Wyoming News Briefs

One killed in five-car crash

LARAMIE (WNE) — The Wyoming Highway Patrol reported one person dead and expected U.S. Highway 230 to be closed for an several hours Monday afternoon after a five-vehicle crash occurred within a few hundred feet of where Lewis Road intersects the highway, close to the entrance of Harmony Elementary School.

Five vehicles were involved in the crash, including two commercial vehicles. There was one fatality and two serious injuries, Wyoming Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeremy Beck said Monday.

One of the five vehicles included a semi-trailer carrying hay, and Beck said the truck was “on fire still” with crews “still in the process of actively trying to put that out” as of 3 p.m. Monday.

Smoke could be seen billowing from as far away as the northern point of the Plains Lakes for multiple hours after the crash.

The highway was expected to be closed for “at least 3-4 hours depending on how long it takes for them to get this hay fire out,” Beck said.

The cause of the crash as well as further details as to who was involved was still under investigation Monday afternoon.

“It’s going to probably be a pretty lengthy investigation,” Beck told the Boomerang.

Man burned after falling into Yellowstone pool

CODY (WNE) — A 48-year-old U.S. citizen currently living in India suffered severe burns to a significant portion of his body after falling into thermal water Sunday near the cone of Old Faithful Geyser.  

Rangers and paramedics responded to the Old Faithful Inn at midnight where Cade Edmond Siemers was staying. He told rangers he had gone for a walk off boardwalk without a flashlight and tripped into a hot spring. He got himself back to his hotel room and called for assistance. Rangers detected evidence of alcohol use.

Siemers was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone Airport and then flown by fixed-wing plane to Idaho Falls. Bad weather conditions prohibited the use of a life flight helicopter at Old Faithful. He was admitted to the Burn Center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. 

Since rangers were not at the scene of the incident Sunday night, they went out at first light Monday morning to investigate in the thermal area. They discovered several items near the geyser (the man’s shoe, hat and a beer can), footprints going to and from the geyser and blood on the boardwalk.  

This is the first serious injury in a thermal area in two years. In June 2017, a man sustained severe burns after falling in a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin. In June 2016, a man left the boardwalk and died after slipping into a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin.

Gillette man killed in motorcycle accident

SHERIDAN (WNE) — A fatal crash around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 22 around milepost 15 on Highway 345 north of Sheridan led to the death of a motorcyclist.

A 2018 Harley Davidson was traveling eastbound when the motorcycle exited the right side of the roadway. After leaving the roadway, the driver lost control of the motorcycle.

The driver of the Harley has been identified as 52-year-old Gillette resident Johnny H. Gilstad. It was unknown if Gilstad was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. He was transported to Sheridan Memorial Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries sustained in the crash. Speed and driver impairment are being investigated as possible contributing factors.

This is the 121st fatality on Wyoming’s roadways in 2019 compared to 84 in 2018, 109 in 2017, and 89 in 2016 to date.

Man arrested in double murder arraigned in federal court

CHEYENNE (WNE) — The man accused in the fatal Sept. 16 shooting in east Cheyenne had his arraignment and detention hearings Monday afternoon in federal court.

Andrew Weaver, 25, was heard in U.S. District Court on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. This charge stems from Weaver’s possession of a Smith and Wesson gun he allegedly used to kill two people and injure two 14-year-old boys.

Weaver is also being charged in Laramie County Circuit Court with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder, and two counts of aggravated assault and battery with bodily injury with a weapon.

Weaver pleaded not guilty to the singular federal charge. His speedy trial requirements expire Dec. 5, and his federal trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 2 in Casper.

Prosecuting attorney Stuart Healy said his office and the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office are working hand in hand to find the best jurisdiction to prosecute the case.

On Sept. 16, Weaver allegedly went to 3436 E. 11th St. and shot four people, killing two. Shaline Wymer, 30, was found dead at the residence with a gunshot wound to her head, and Adrien Butler, 37, was also shot in the head and declared dead at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.

One escaped inmate captured in Texas

GILLETTE (WNE) — One of the inmates who escaped from a minimum-security prison in Newscastle last week has been caught in Mesquite, Texas.

Jason Green, 48, has been arrested, but inmate Robert Simpson remains at large and still could be in the Mesquite and greater Dallas/Fort Worth area, according to the Wyoming Department of Corrections.

Mesquite police responded to a suspicious person call early Sunday morning and saw two people running from the location on foot. Green was captured but the other individual (believed to be Simpson) got away, according to the Mesquite Police Department.

Simpson and Green escaped from the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp in Newcastle on Sept. 22. It is believed they stole a city truck in Newcastle and drove to Laramie, that night. They abandoned the truck at a roofing company in Laramie, which wasn’t found for several days. They may have stolen a black Subaru near that location.

Green was serving a sentence for larceny and was sentenced in 2015 to three to eight years.

Simpson, 30, is 5-10 and about 165 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. He has a scar on the bridge of his nose, on his right forearm and on the left hand. He has a tattoo of a domino and hellcat on his right arm with other tattoos on his chest, abdomen and back. He was last seen with a beard and sometimes has black eyeglasses.

Simpson was serving a five- to 15-year sentence for aggravated burglary with a weapon.

Former Grand Teton superintendent acting head of NPS

JACKSON (WNE) — The recently departed superintendent of Grand Teton National Park is now calling the shots as the “acting” director of the National Park Service, overseeing more than 27,000 employees and 419 parks, monuments and other “units.”

David Vela had been President Trump and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s pick to direct the Park Service beginning in the summer of 2018. But his nomination was not brought before the entire U.S. Senate for a vote. Subsequently, he was never renominated under the 116th U.S. Congress. In April, Vela departed Teton Park after a five-year stint to take a job as the Park Service’s acting deputy director of operations.

Vela’s new directorship has been the subject of rumor for weeks, and the story about the leadership change was broken by E&E News reporter Rob Hotakainen last week. U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt confirmed the news Monday afternoon, issuing an order that declared Vela would be “exercising the authority” of the presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed position.

In the nearly 1,000 days of the Trump administration, the Park Service has lacked a Senate-confirmed director, which suggests Vela could be at the helm for a while.

“It’s terrible that they’ve been surviving on ‘acting,’” said Kristen Brengel, the National Parks Conservation Association’s senior vice president of government affairs. “It’s not a way to provide any leadership within the agency.”

Otherwise, she said, Vela is a “wonderful” pick.

“He has a great track record, and he cares deeply about broadening the constituency of people who go to parks,” Brengel said.

Scammers target Campbell County in wake of ransomware attack

GILLETTE (WNE) — As Campbell County Health works to restore its computer systems after last week’s ransomware attack, it’s dealing with another problem: scammers.

According to a press release, CCH has received reports that some residents have received phone calls claiming to be from CCH offering to help restore their patient portals or asking for health information.

These calls are not originating from CCH.

Do not provide any personal information to an individual or business that you don’t know. The only calls originating from CCH are from Powder River Surgery Center and the Campbell County Memorial Hospital Surgery Department.

Calls from CCH partners regarding billing, collection and bad debt accounts are continuing. These calls may originate from local or out-of-state numbers.

Third man charged in hunting license case

GILLETTE (WNE) — A third man has been charged with game violations in what investigators believe is a ten-year effort to get Wyoming hunting privileges while living in South Dakota.

Former Gillette resident David E. Underwood, 51, faces 16 counts of game violations — all misdemeanors — including ten counts of making false statements to buy or apply for game licenses or permits from 2005 to 2015, according to court documents.

He is accused of working with his father, Robert Underwood, to illegally apply for licenses or preference points for moose, Bighorn sheep, wild bison and mountain goat.

Underwood’s father and Russell “Rusty” B. Vick also have been charged as part of the investigation that was started in 2017 by a Gillette game warden about the three illegally buying Wyoming resident hunting licenses. Both Underwoods had lived in Gillette, but Vick lived in Alabama during the time that investigators believe big game animals were killed illegally, according to court documents.

During the investigation, it was learned that David Underwood has lived in Edgemont, South Dakota, since at least 2005, yet he is suspected of applying for about 49 Wyoming resident hunting and fishing licenses and preference points in multiple counties in Wyoming and killed “numerous species of wildlife without licenses in multiple counties in Wyoming,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.

From 2005-2016, there were 46 times that David Underwood bought Wyoming hunting licenses or applied for preference points, according to the affidavit. Investigators say he was able to do that with Robert Underwood’s help in paying for the applications and using a Gillette address.