Student charged with murder expected to plead not guilty by reason of mental illness
PINEDALE — The capital murder cases against the two Big Piney High School students accused of killing Dakota Farley were bound over to Sublette County District Court following two separate probable cause hearings held on March 11.
Rowan Littauer, 19, and Orion Schlesinger, 18, will each have an opportunity to enter pleas to the charges when they are arraigned in district court at a joint hearing scheduled for March 20.
The pair have been in custody at the Sublette County Detention Center, each held on a $5 million cash-only bond, since their arrests on February 5 — three days after Farley was killed on February 2.
Littauer is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Farley with a compound bow and two broadhead arrows, and mutilation of a dead human body for allegedly firing six BBs into Farley’s skull post-mortem.
Schlesinger is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for his alleged role in Farley’s death, along with felony theft of a firearm belonging to the deceased.
Littauer was the first of the two friends to appear in Sublette County Circuit Court on the morning of March 11. Wearing an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and belly chains, Littauer sat between his public defender Elisabeth Trefonas and her assistant as Sublette County Prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich laid out some of the evidence against him.
Directly behind Littauer stood two sheriff’s deputies who never took their eyes off him.
Sublette County Detective Sgt. Travis Lanning, also a deputy coroner and the lead investigator in Farley’s death, was the sole witness to testify during both teens’ hearings on Tuesday.
The purpose of a probable cause hearing is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to cause a reasonable person to believe a crime occurred and that the defendant is probably the one who committed it. As the prosecutor said when the boys made their initial appearances in court on February 7, the preponderance of evidence in the cases against them is substantial.
‘Too nice’
Under oath, Sgt. Lanning testified that H.L., an 18-year-old female student at Big Piney High School — whose name the Pinedale Roundup is choosing not to disclose — received a text message from Littauer’s phone at 12:26 p.m. on February 4.
The message read, “I committed a felony. I killed Dakota with a bow and two arrows. Orion (Schlesinger) was with me. Listen, the motherfucker touched (E.K.) … One less pedofile [sic].”
Lanning testified that there is no credence to Littauer’s claim that Farley was a pedophile. He said there is no evidence to suggest Farley had ever engaged in any inappropriate behavior with Schlesinger’s minor girlfriend, E.K., or any other person.
Melinkovich said definitively, “It was not true.”
E.K. herself also told detectives that Farley never touched her inappropriately and that she did not ask Schlesinger or Littauer to do anything to Farley. She said she had previously expressed to the boys that she felt uncomfortable around Farley and was “creeped out” by him because the 23-year-old who had autism was “too nice” to her.
Schlesinger would often bring E.K. with him to play video games at Farley’s trailer on South Mickelson Street in Big Piney.
A 2019 graduate of Pinedale High School, Farley was enrolled in online courses at the University of Colorado and studying to become a video game developer.
Schlesinger and Littauer met Farley a year prior at a group counseling session hosted by High Country Behavioral Health. In addition to having autism spectrum disorder, Farley had developmental delays associated with being born months premature.
As a result, he struggled to make friends throughout his life.
In a February 11 interview, Farley’s parents said their son functioned more like a 17-year-old and that he considered Schlesinger and Littauer his “closest, most trusted friends.”
Schlesinger’s public defender Rachel Weksler said in court Tuesday that according to her client, Littauer did not get along well with Farley. As Weksler described Schlesinger’s friendship with Farley, the defendant nodded his head repeatedly in the affirmative.
A school counselor’s call
On Wednesday, February 5, a day after she received the text from Littauer outlining the circumstances surrounding Farley’s murder, H.L. reported it to the Big Piney High School counselor, who contacted law enforcement.
Sublette County detectives responded to the high school where they met with Littauer. The teen was read his Miranda Rights before he told detectives during the recorded interview, “Dakota is dead.”
Lanning testified Tuesday that Littauer explained he shot Farley with a compound bow and two broad-head arrows. He said Schlesinger was with him at the time of the murder. Littauer even pointed out Farley’s home on a map — where he said detectives would find Farley’s body.
Lanning testified that Littauer also made a statement about feeling “peer pressure” to commit the capital murder.
Finding Dakota
As deputies continued to question Littauer in a room at Big Piney High School on February 5, Detective Lanning peered through the windows of Farley’s trailer and knocked on the locked front door. Deputy Scott Winer called Farley’s cell phone but it went straight to voicemail.
Other deputies walked around the trailer court on South Mickelson. They eventually encountered a woman identified as Farley’s grandmother who said she had not seen her grandson in a few days.
With that, Detective Lanning made entry through the back door of Farley’s trailer by pushing it open.
During both preliminary hearings on March 11, Lanning recounted finding Farley’s body lying face down in his living room in a pool of dried blood and an arrow sticking out of his right arm. It was immediately clear Farley had been dead for days. There was no chance the man was killed elsewhere and brought home to his trailer.
“Mr. Farley collapsed right where I found him,” Lanning said Tuesday.
Later, an autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist and observed by Lanning determined that the first arrow hit Farley in the right arm, entered his chest and pierced his aorta, the artery responsible for carrying oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body. The second arrow, fired after Farley hit the floor, went through his trachea, severing his airway.
His death would have been near instantaneous. He was already dead when a half-dozen BBs were fired into his skull, Lanning said.
As reported, Ray Farley arrived home from work and identified his son’s body on February 5.
Following the grim discovery, the crime scene and residences of Littauer and Schlesinger were secured by sheriff’s deputies while search warrants were obtained and then executed.
In their own words
At the time of Farley’s murder, Schlesinger and E.K., who was pregnant with his child, lived together in a trailer at Rob’s Roost in Big Piney.
Lanning testified that in a Mirandized and recorded interview with detectives at the Marbleton Sheriff’s Office on the night of February 5, Schlesinger explained he left to meet up with Littauer at around 11 p.m. on February 1 to make a plan to “take care of a pedophile.”
He admitted to detectives that he was present at the time of Farley’s murder.
E.K. told detectives in her interview that before Schlesinger left their residence on the night of February 1, he said, “I want to kill Dakota,” and that he and Littauer “were going to kill Dakota.”
According to E.K., Schlesinger packed a backpack and walked to Littauer’s residence.
In his arguments Tuesday, attorney Melkinovich described how the teens pieced together their plan, gathered weapons and then walked the 1.4 miles from Littauer’s to Farley’s, on a frigid, snowy winter night in a town known as “the icebox of the nation” to commit a murder.
Littauer entered Farley’s home first, Schlesinger said, armed with the compound bow. Farley emerged from the back bedroom and Littauer shot him twice.
Schlesinger told investigators he didn’t see Littauer fire the BBs into Farley’s head, but he heard a “PSH, PSH” sound approximately six times.
The forensic pathologist found six bronze BBs embedded in the circular wounds of Farley’s scalp. Littauer confirmed in a February 7 recorded phone call from the county jail that he shot the BBs into Farley’s head.
Also in a recorded call, Littauer appeared to shift the blame onto his friend, telling his girlfriend that, “Orion (Schlesinger) was a really good convincer.”
E.K. told investigators that Schlesinger returned to their home approximately four hours later at 3 a.m. on February 2 and confessed to her that Farley was dead. He showed her a silver and purple gun, later confirmed as a firearm Farley purchased from Ridley’s in Pinedale. It was fully loaded. Farley usually kept it in a lockbox in his bedroom.
After showing E.K. the stolen firearm, Schlesinger contacted his stepfather Heath Stone and asked him to take the .22-caliber revolver. Stone agreed and picked up the gun, Lanning testified in court on Tuesday.
Deputies seized a camo backpack, a CO2 pistol and a bottle of BBs, a compound bow and broad-head arrows matching the ones used to murder Dakota and more during a search of Littauer’s residence. A separate search at Schlesinger’s resulted in the seizure of a backpack, cell phones, a computer and a BB gun. Deputies also retrieved Farley’s stolen firearm.
On February 20, Schlesinger sent a letter to Circuit Court Judge John LaBuda pleading to be “temporarily released” so he could “watch my son’s birth on March 17 at St. John’s Hospital in Jackson.”
Schlesinger continued in his letter, “I pray that I may testify against the man who threatened my life so I may raise my son to be a good man. … If I am wrongly convicted, this may be my only chance to hold him and kiss my wife one last time.”
Judge LaBuda denied Schlesinger’s request the same day it was filed, and E.K. gave birth to Schlesinger’s child just days before his March 11 hearing.
Schlesinger also claimed in his letter that Littauer forced him to attend Farley’s murder, writing in part to Judge LaBuda, “If I could prove to you, the State, and it’s [sic] people that I was forced into a situation by Rowan (Littauer) I will. I would not do anything to take me away from my family without my own life being threatened.”
Two grieving dads
In a touching moment outside the courtroom following Littauer’s preliminary hearing but before the start of Schlesinger’s, Schlesinger’s stepfather approached Farley’s dad with an outstretched hand. Ray Farley shook it, then pulled Stone in for a hug and said, “As parents, we need to get through this together and let the judicial system get justice.”
Stone said, “Dakota was a very good kid. He stayed at our house a few times. He was very polite. You raised him well.”
Schlesinger had previously stayed at Farley’s house, too. He even spent time with Dakota at Ray and Pamela Farley’s trailer next door.
Pamela, who is recovering from surgery, tore her stitches getting ready for Tuesday's hearings and was unable to attend with her husband.
She told the Pinedale Roundup in a February 11 interview that she was especially struggling to come to terms with Schlesinger’s alleged involvement in her son’s murder because of how much time he spent with her family and how much his friendship meant to Farley.
‘Words have meaning’
In her cross-examination of Lanning Tuesday morning, Littauer’s defense attorney questioned the spontaneity of the text message confession and suggested someone other than Littauer could have sent it to H.L.
“Anyone could get on anyone’s phone and say anything,” attorney Trefonas said.
On redirect, Lanning said he confirmed with H.L., the owner of the phone, that the text came from Littauer’s phone and was part of a bonafide conversation she had with him.
He said the phone and other evidence remain at the Wyoming State Crime Lab.
Trefonas also called into question the fact that 3-4 days passed between the killing of Farley and the collection of evidence. Trefonas suggested E.K. told law enforcement that Farley never touched her inappropriately, but she said E.K. did tell Littauer and Schlesinger that in conversations between the three of them.
Gesturing as if she were pulling back an arrow on a compound bow, Trefonas asked Lanning if he knew the dimensions of the living room where Farley was killed. He did not.
In her closing argument, Trefonas said, “Words have meaning. This case will hinge on words: what those words were and who said them. What did E.K. say to Schlesinger? What did she say that started these events in the first place?”
Weksler, Schlesinger’s public defender, attended Littauer’s probable cause hearing Tuesday morning and watched as Trefonas argued on behalf of the alleged shooter. When it was her turn to cross-examine Lanning, Weksler asked the sergeant if Schlesinger ever made a statement about Littauer pointing a weapon at him.
Lanning confirmed Schlesinger did make such a statement about the same person he considered a “foster brother” pointing a weapon at him. Schlesinger nodded in the affirmative at the detective’s words.
Weksler asked how close the properties were to one another within the trailer court, whether any animals were present inside Farley’s home, and about the locking mechanism on the front door knob of Farley’s trailer.
Throughout Schlesinger’s probable cause hearing, the teen visibly trembled and his lips quivered. He occasionally mouthed his disagreement with statements made by Lanning, nodded in agreement, and whispered “thank you” to his attorney when Weksler handed him a tissue.
Schlesinger’s behavior was a stark contrast to Littauer, who appeared generally upbeat as he smiled through his probable cause hearing.
Unlike Littauer, Schlesinger did not look back at his mother and stepfather who watched both hearings on Tuesday through tear-filled eyes inside the courtroom.
At the end of Littauer’s probable cause hearing, Trefonas said she anticipates her client to plead not guilty by reason of mental illness when he is arraigned in district court next week.
Weksler did not indicate how Schlesinger intends to plead but said the case against her client, “is fraught with questions that will have to be answered as we have access to more information.”
She acknowledged a preliminary hearing was not the appropriate venue to seek answers to those questions.
At the conclusions of both hearings, Judge LaBuda found enough evidence to bind each case over to the district court for further proceedings. The teens are scheduled to appear next at 1:30 p.m. on March 20.
If convicted, the two teenagers could be sentenced to death or life in prison.
This story was published on March 13, 2025.