State Briefs

Woman accused of stealing same car twice

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 21-year-old woman apparently likes red Ford Explorers: She is accused of stealing the same one twice in less than 24 hours.

A 35-year-old woman reported that her 1994 red Ford Explorer was missing from the Walmart parking lot at about 1 a.m. Sunday evening after she parked near the entrance of the Marketside door with the keys in it, Police Lt. Brent Wasson said. She was in the store for about 20 minutes.

Officers were then able to locate the vehicle at 1001 Douglas Highway parked under a tree with the hazard lights on. The vehicle keys, which were on a blue lanyard, were missing. Officers couldn’t find them in the area. 

The vehicle was then reported stolen again from 1001 Douglas Highway, Wasson said. The woman who owned the vehicle went to recover it and discovered it was gone. The Ford was then entered into the national crime information computer.

A few hours later, the vehicle was stopped by Sundance police on Interstate 90 for erratic driving and Shell was arrested. 

Candice Shell, 21, was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft of a 1994 red Ford Explorer late Sunday evening. 

Two bears killed in Yellowstone

POWELL (WNE) — Staff in Yellowstone National Park have had busy summer responding to reports of bears in campgrounds, backcountry campsites and along roads. 

In a Thursday news release, park officials revealed three recent incidents involving black bears that became habituated to human food. That included a June incident where a backcountry camper was bitten. 

Two of the bears have been killed by park wildlife managers; they’ve been trying to capture the third. 

In June’s incident, a woman had been camping at a backcountry site along Little Cottonwood Creek, in the northern park of the park. That’s when a black bear bit into her tent and — although the tent and her thick sleeping bag kept the bear’s teeth from breaking her skin — bruised her thigh. 

Rangers set up a decoy tent at the campsite to determine if the bear would continue the behavior. While rangers were there, the bear returned and aggressively tore up the decoy tent, Yellowstone officials say. The bear was killed on-site on June 11.

Then in early July, at a backcountry campsite along the Lamar River Trail, campers left food unattended while packing up their gear. That allowed a black bear to eat approximately 10 pounds of human food. Campers who visited the same campsite the following evening had numerous encounters with the same bear. Their attempts to haze the bear away failed. Rangers moved multiple campers from the area and the bear was killed on July 10. 

Finally, since July 18, a black bear has caused property damage to tents and vehicles in a search for human food at the front-country Indian Creek Campground.

Vesicular Stomatitis reported in Wyoming

GILLETTE (WNE) — Two confirmed cases of Vesicular Stomatitis (VSV), a reportable animal disease, have been found in Platte County.

National Veterinary Services Laboratory reported the disease to the Wyoming state veterinarian after testing samples that were submitted Tuesday, according to a press release from the Wyoming Livestock Board.

The samples came from horses with oral lesions suggestive of VSV. Other potentially affected animals in Platte County are being investigated by Wyoming Livestock Board and USDA APHIS veterinarians.

The main symptoms of VSV are slobbering, blisters, sores and sloughing of skin in the mouth, on the tongue, on the muzzle, inside the ears and on the coronary band above the hooves. Lameness and weight loss may also occur.

VSV-infected horses have been found in 2019 in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. VSV can threaten other livestock species, including cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

The disease is spread mainly through flies and midges. The virus also is spread through direct contact with infected livestock and indirectly through contact with contaminated equipment and tack.

Fly control, including eliminating fly breeding and hiding habitat, is the most important step in preventing the disease, according to the press release. Good sanitation and bio-security measures can help avoid exposure.

Wyoming’s most recent previous outbreaks of VSV were in 2005, 2006 and 2015. Nearly all of the affected livestock during those outbreak years were pastured along drainages or had recent history of exposure to low-lying, riparian areas.

Fatal fire ruled accidental

PINEDALE (WNE) — Following an investigation by the Wyoming State Fire Marshal, the house fire at 121 N. Ashley Ave. on July 10 that killed one man and left a woman injured was ruled accidental.

According to a press release from Sublette County Unified Fire, “The fire originated on the cook stove in the kitchen.” 

The release goes on to say, “The occupants had left the front door open as well as a bedroom window due to the warm night. Open windows and doors allow for increased air entrainment (air being drawn) into the structure. This entrainment caused the fire to grow rapidly from the kitchen, to the short hall between the bedroom and kitchen. An opening in the wall between the kitchen and living room allowed for the fire and hot fire gasses to enter into the living room.” 

James Tipton, 61, died in the fire. Tricia Gregory Gunderson, 57, was sent to the intensive care unit at an Idaho burn clinic. 

After the fire started and noxious smoke poured from the house, a neighbor heard Gunderson screaming for someone to get out. 

She was released from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center on July 15. Dave Harley of the Wyoming State Fire Marshal’s Office assisted Sublette County investigators with the investigation.