Wyominng News Briefs

Body found near in Park Co., murder suspect arrested

POWELL (WNE) — A hunter stumbled upon a woman’s body about halfway between Cody and Meeteetse on Saturday afternoon — and authorities say she appears to have been the victim of a homicide.

A suspect was arrested in connection with the case on Saturday night, the Park County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday. However, the agency’s brief news release did not identify the man who is in custody or name the deceased.

Law enforcement officials indicated that they believe the woman was killed in southeast Wyoming and then brought to Park County, but they otherwise released few details about their investigation on Monday.

“We’re just trying to do as thorough an investigation as we can while at the same time trying to assist another county in this case,” Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric said of the limited information that’s been publicly released so far.

The sheriff’s office said the victim was a resident of “southeast Wyoming,” but it, like Skoric, did not name the specific place where the woman was from.

A local hunter called the Park County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday to report finding the body. The sheriff’s office said the body was found on private property located west of Wyo. Highway 120.

The sheriff’s office said its deputies and personnel from the Bureau of Land Management and the Wyoming Highway Patrol apprehended a suspect in connection with the apparent homicide on Saturday evening.

Coroner: Woman died from hypothermia

PINEDALE (WNE) — The cause of death of 28-year-old Aubree Shanae Corona, who went missing July 13 and was found Aug. 20, was determined as “complications of environmental exposure and hypothermia.” 

Her body was found in the Leeds Creek area of Bridger-Teton National Forest in Fremont County more than a mile from her vehicle nearly six weeks after she was reported missing by family.

The Sublette Examiner filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Fremont County Coroner for the “Coroner’s Notes” in the death. 

The notes provided by Fremont County Coroner Mark Statmoen state the date and time of her death as “unknown,” and only include the date Corona’s body was located by searchers on Aug. 20. 

The manner of death is listed as “accident.” 

According to the document’s toxicology results, samples included 45 micrograms per milliliter of Gabapentin, an anti-epileptic drug, also called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain. 

Corona also tested positive for 9.4 nanograms per milliliter of Oxycodone, an opioid pain medication sometimes called a narcotic and used to treat moderate to severe pain. 

The body also had 8.4 nanograms per milliliter of Delta-9 THC, a derivative of marijuana. 

Alcohol, tobacco use high among Wyoming youth

RIVERTON (WNE) — A survey by U.S. Drug Test Centers physician and CEO Jonathan Baktari indicates that young people in Wyoming use less marijuana – but drink more alcohol – than people ages 25 and younger in most other states. 

In the 12-17 year age group in Wyoming, the survey states, 5.76 percent have used marijuana in the past month. The leader for that age group was Vermont, with 10.75 percent having used the drug in the past month. 

The survey said 16.5 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds in Wyoming recorded marijuana use in the past month, which is also among the national lows per state. 

The survey reports that alcohol consumption has fallen slightly across all age groups since 2008. “Young people are consuming less alcohol today than they were a decade ago,” Baktari writes. People from ages 12-20 in Wyoming reported a 21.6 percent use rate for the past month, which is within the top third for the nation. Massachusetts led at 32 percent.

Utah had the lowest alcohol consumption percentage in the age group, at 12.11 percent. 

The report acknowledges a nationwide decline in overall tobacco use, especially among teens and young adults. Conversely, it notes a rise among many states in vaping and non-cigarette tobacco use. 

Here Wyoming was a tobacco use frontrunner: 9.3 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed reported using non-cigarette tobacco products in the past month, compared to the highest use in West Virginia, with 10.3 percent, and the lowest use reported in Hawaii, at 2.19 percent. 

Cheyenne council approves resolution for grant repayment

CHEYENNE (WNE) — At the request of Cheyenne City Council members, a resolution about how the city will repay Bloomberg Philanthropies was brought forward at Monday’s Finance Committee meeting under “other business.”

The resolution doesn’t bring anything new to the situation, but will put the repayment of the grant before the council.

“Everything this resolution contemplates is already in the works,” City Attorney Mike O’Donnell said.

In spring 2018, the city received a $100,000 Mayor’s Challenge grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to create a website that would connect owners of underdeveloped properties with developers.

The city spent about $43,000 on the project before its expiration in October 2018. After that, about $23,000 was charged to the grant by the mayor’s office for expenses such as Christmas decorations for city hall and the mayor’s travel. The city is in the process of paying back that $23,000 for improper use, along with about $33,000 worth of unused funds.

The money spent using the grant is in the process of being reclassified to be charged to the mayor’s discretionary fund.

The city will repay Bloomberg Philanthropies by way of purchase order, and the purchase order was presented to Council President Rocky Case to sign last week. With his signature, the order would’ve gone through as a done deal.

“This needs to go before the governing body and the public,” Case said.

Mayor Marian Orr said the resolution is a way for Case to drag out the process even further.

“There’s absolutely no reason for this to come forward as a resolution,” Orr said.

Kanye West officially takes possession of Park Co. ranch

CODY (WNE) — It’s official. Kanye West is the new owner of the former Monster Lake Ranch.

Although the information is hardly news to most people in Cody, it is now official as two new deeds for the property were filed Oct. 28 with the Park County Clerk’s Office.

Deed documents reveal West made two separate purchases under his Psalm 2019 Limited Liability Company.

The principal office for this company is in Los Angeles, where West has a residence.

The associated address for this LLC is for 3202 Big Horn Ave., where West was recently confirmed to have purchased the Mountain Equipment property owned by Steve and Laurie Swan. That property was purchased on Oct. 17 under Psalm Cody Commercial LLC.

It appears West privately purchased the 4,524-acre property he is now referring to as West Lake, in two chunks. The first was signed off on Oct. 23 and granted by Cody Oar Lock Ranch LLC. Cody Oar Lock is associated with Colin Simpson of the Burg Simpson law office in Cody.

West has been spotted throughout Cody numerous times in recent months. His most public moment came when delivering a Sunday Service concert at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in late September.

Walgreens sued in overdose

CHEYENNE – Unidentified pharmacists from the Walgreens on Lincolnway are accused of giving a person the wrong dose of their prescription, which caused him to overdose.

Eric and Jennifer Smith are suing Walgreens and John Does 1 and 2, who are alleged to be the licensed pharmacist or technicians that filled the prescription, in U.S. District Court over the allegedly faulty prescription. The Smiths are suing Walgreens for professional malpractice, negligence, negligent hiring and retention and agency/respondent superior.

The lawsuit is asking for damages for the loss of enjoyment of life, loss of physical and mental functioning, loss of earnings, medical expenses and more. A jury trial is being requested in the case.

According to court documents:

On Sept. 28, 2017, Eric Smith got a prescription from his doctor for 25 mg of Mysoline, which is a highly potent barbiturate, for his seizure and tremor condition. 

Smith went to the Walgreens pharmacy on Lincolnway to fill his prescription per his doctor’s orders. Instead of getting the prescribed dose, pharmacists gave Smith 250 mg instead – 10 times the dosage Smith was prescribed.

This meant as Smith was supposed to be gradually increasing his dose to 75 mg, he ended up taking 750 mg. This caused his original condition to get worse, and he experienced new “horrible debilitating” side effects, including uncontrollable crying, shaking, tremors, extreme nightmares, sleep walking, falling, vomiting, uncontrollable nausea, appetite loss and extreme weight loss, according to the lawsuit.

Due to these side effects, he was bedridden for long periods of time, had hallucinations and suicidal thoughts.

Man accused of stabbing boss over wages

RAWLINS (WNE) — A Rawlins man who allegedly stabbed his boss with a box-cutter over unpaid wages pleaded not guilty on Monday in district court.

Curtis Morgan, 48, is charged with one felony count of aggravated assault. He faces as many as 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in court-related fines.

Morgan was arrested by the Rawlins Police Department on Sept. 14 following a disturbance call made from the Brickyard Inn motel in the 400 block of Rawlins.

According to court records, Morgan told authorities after his arrest that he confronted his boss, Gino Yenis, since he was owed $165 in back pay. Morgan further states that Yenis then pushed him and got him in a headlock.

“[Morgan] said that is when he had stabbed Mr. Yenis with his knife in the stomach,” the record states.

Yenis was subsequently taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, where he was treated for a stab-like wound to the lower left-hand side of his stomach.

After the incident, Yenis told authorities that Morgan “came up to him with the knife already drawn in his hand” when he began asking about the money.

“Mr. Yenis said that he had told [Morgan] that he does not have it right now,” the record states. “Mr. Yenis stated that he had pushed [Morgan] to get him away from him and [Morgan] stabbed him in the stomach.”

Sex assault reported at UW dorm

LARAMIE (WNE) — The University of Wyoming sent an email to employees and students around noon Saturday indicating there was a reported sexual assault in a UW dormitory.

According to the email, the female victim was assaulted by a man she met through Tinder and may have provided her with “possible laced marijuana” prior to the assault.

The email did not indicate which in which dorm the assault allegedly took place.

Earlier this year, UW sent out an email for another sexual assault which also took place in a dorm just one day after classes began.

“Advocacy and medical support options were provided to the victim, and the matter is still under investigation,” UW’s email stated.

The email was sent for UW to be compliant with the Jeanne Clery Act of 1990, which requires universities to share information about crimes and other safety issues.

The Clery Act requires emergency notifications about imminent dangerous situations, like a tornado. It also requires “timely warnings” about a serious crime, like the one issued Saturday.

As with all its Clery Act emails, UW’s Wednesday email included numerous suggestions of ways sexual

assault can be prevented, as well as a lengthy list of resources regarding sexual assault the campus community can tap — including ways to report an assault.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, there were 21 reported rapes in on UW’s campus in 2017, 19 in 2016, and 14 in 2015.