7th violent death recorded in Fremont County

LANDER — The wave of homicidal violence in Fremont County has persisted with a seventh death of the year under investigation as suspicious – this time, a child.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 15-year-old boy after police were called on Monday morning to the 100 block of Firethorn Lane on a “stabbing/ gunshot” report.

It’s the seventh act of fatal violence in the county under investigation in just the first four months of the year.

Few details have emerged on the teen boy’s death, though Fremont County Sheriff Ryan Lee said in a statement the boy has been identified as a local youth, and that the death is under investigation as suspicious. He declined to provide more information, citing the ongoing investigation.

As the seventh suspicious death in the county has been tallied, the region is on track to record the most homicides in a year in recent memory. The highest recorded murder statistics in the last decade came in 2014, with a dozen – that year, according to the National Statistic Comparison from CDC National Vital Statistics System, Fremont County had triple the national average for homicides in areas with similar populations.

Six others

Two homicides were reported on the same day on April 14: one in Lander, the other on the Wind River Reservation.

According to Lander Police Chief Scott Peters, Michael Ray Vigil, 39, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after a person was found murdered on Sweetwater Street in Lander on April 14 just before 7 a.m. The original call reported an assault, and officials are not releasing the identity of the victim pending further notification of family and investigation.

According to the second-degree murder charge, Vigil told investigators he beat his victim in the head with a metal bar after the two had been drinking together at Vigil’s residence when the victim began “acting weird” and took off his shorts.

Vigil told investigators the man put his clothes back on and when Vigil, allegedly fearing a sexual attack, told him to leave, the victim laid down on Vigil’s bed instead.

Vigil retrieved a metal bar and struck the victim in the head three times, then dragged his body onto the patio, the complaint states. He then burned some things from the victim’s wallet on top of his body, court documents allege.

Law enforcement was later called on a report of a second homicide at 9:24 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, according to the Fremont County sheriff’s call log, which indicates the death is under investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Wind River Police Department.

Unlike other local law enforcement agencies, the Wind River Police Department does not comment on investigations and only releases data when a person is charged with a crime in federal court.

All but the word “homicide” and the date and time were redacted from the sheriff’s call log.

Last week the Fremont County Coroner’s Office released the details in another homicide.

Law enforcement officials were called to a Riverton residence on Vine Street on March 17 at 5:45 p.m. on a report of a dead body.

The 29-year-old man, Pete Ouray, was found dead in his home.

According to the coroner, his cause of death was homicide by blunt traumatic injuries of the head, and his blood-alcohol content was measured at .254%.

His date of death was listed as March 15.

On February 25, Inez Whiteman, 37, died as a result of a stab wound to the chest.

The BIA and FBI are investigating the death, which Fremont County Erin Ivie ruled a homicide.

Ivie also ruled the February 19 death of William Yellowrobe Sr. as a homicide due to blunt-force traumatic injuries to the head and ethanol intoxication; his blood-alcohol content was measured at .31% at the time of his death.

Riverton Police were called for a welfare check at 9:30 a.m. that morning after Yellowrobe was discovered bloodied with possible signs of trauma near St. James Episcopal Church. He was pronounced dead there; police are seeking information from anyone who may have heard a disturbance the day before, February 18, between 3-9 p.m.

On January 2, Lawrence Oldman III, 20, was stabbed to death on the Wind River Reservation. Murder charges allege Ezekiel “Zeke” Frank James Ute stabbed Oldman while the two, along with a pair of witnesses, were driving around drinking on Riverview Road.

This story was published on April 27, 2024.