Wyoming News Briefs July 16

Body of missing man found in Snake River

JACKSON (WNE) — A boater found the body of Averin Scott in the Snake River on Sunday evening, 10 days after he was reported missing and about 25 miles south of where police think he fell in.

“We just want to thank everyone,” Scott’s sister Avalina Cisco said Monday, “from the sheriffs and the searchers and also victim services and everyone who has been out searching and just taking longer walks to look for him.”

Scott, 21, disappeared from his house on S. Highway 89 late on July 3. Besides his shoe found near the water, police had no other solid leads regarding his disappearance.

Personnel with the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, Teton County Search and Rescue, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Star Valley Search and Rescue had been combing the river almost daily since Scott was reported missing.

The private boater spotted Scott’s body in the river at around 4:30 p.m. Sunday near the Flying Saddle Resort, just before the Alpine Bridge.

“The boater stayed there until search and rescue could get there,” Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson told the Jackson Hole Daily.

They were certain it was Scott based on a description of his clothing when he disappeared, Johnson said.

Scott’s family members confirmed his identity to Lincoln County Coroner Dain Schwab.

Although a toxicology test won’t be complete for some time, Schwab thinks Scott died from drowning and believes it was an accident.

“There is no foul play suspected,” Schwab said.

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Gillette man dies weeks after motorcycle crash

GILLETTE (WNE) — Nearly three weeks after a devastating motorcycle crash left Deven Dulany with badly broken legs, arms and internal injuries, the Gillette 20-year-old has died.

Dulany had been receiving emergency treatment and care at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, that included amputating part of his left leg and numerous surgeries.

Dulany had been showing some small gains, including moving his arms and right leg some and communicating with friends and family, but his condition worsened over a couple of days before his death and he developed an infection, said Cori McCue, a former Gillette resident and cousin who had been updating a public CaringBridge journal of Dulany’s progress.

She said she’s proud of how hard Dulany fought, and his toughness and determination showed in how he lived for nearly three weeks after the June 25 crash with injuries that doctors said would’ve killed most anybody else instantly.

“They said if he wasn’t as young and strong as he was, he wouldn’t have even made it (this far),” McCue said. “He fought really hard.”

She said her cousin was peaceful and not in pain when he died overnight Sunday surrounded by friends and family. She also said an outpouring of support from the Gillette community inspired him to fight.

She said her cousin broke “just about every bone in his body” when the motorcycle he was riding at high speed crashed into a 2005 Chevy Malibu on Boxelder Road. The 50-year-old driver of the Malibu was ticketed for driving with a suspended license and for having no proof of insurance.

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Dorm task force recommends new parking garage for UW

LARAMIE (WNE) — State legislators and members of the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees came to a general consensus Monday that the university should construct a parking garage on the north side of Grand Avenue, between 10th and 11th streets.

That site already houses a parking lot, but members of the UW Housing Task Force — consisting of UW leaders, legislators and Laramie Mayor Joe Shumway — have eyed the location south of Old Main as a prime spot to place new parking. The construction of new dormitories along 15th Street is expected to eliminate the parking adjacent to the Wyoming Union.

The UW Housing Task Force, convened by the Legislature to oversee the construction of at least $300 million in new dorms, made plans Monday to vote in August on its recommendations for where the first two dorms should be placed.

When the housing task force began meeting this year, its members quickly identified a parking garage as a top need for the university. The 2019 state law creating the financing scheme for dorms construction to proceed requires the university’s dorms overhaul to create a net increase in parking.

UW Trustee Kermit Brown did express concern about how the parking garage would be paid for.

If UW were to issue bonds to pay for a 600-space, $15 million garage, the university would likely face annual debt service costs of $770,000.

UW staff estimated the university would need to triple to the price of parking passes if end-users were to cover the cost.

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Man killed in Pinedale fire identified

PINEDALE (WNE) – A woman life-flighted early Thursday after a house fire devastated the single-family home at 121 N. Ashley Ave. in Pinedale is now in “fair condition” at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

James Tipton, 67, of Pinedale was found by firefighters and positively identified Monday.

The cause of Tipton’s death has not been determined.

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

Tricia Gregory Gunderson, 57, of Pinedale, was taken by ambulance to the Pinedale Medical Clinic with acute smoke inhalation and burns and then flown to EIRMC’s Burn Intensive Care Unit, according to the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office.

The fire was reported Wednesday, July 10, at 10:50 p.m. by neighbor Channing Stockman, who told the Sublette Examiner he was in his apartment playing his guitar when he smelled smoke and heard a woman screaming.

He went to the house, where he could see flames and Gunderson inside the house screaming, “Get out, get out.”

He helped her off the porch and called 911. Stockman said the woman believed a man was still inside the house but the fire engulfed the interior so he did not go in.

Sublette County Unified Fire responded with 10 apparatus and 32 firefighters; a crew tried to enter and search the home but was pushed back by heavy smoke and flames. Eventually they found a deceased man inside.

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Yellowstone visitation numbers down in June from 2018

CODY (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park attendance through June is down slightly compared to last year.

The Park hosted 781,853 visits in June, a 3.6 percent decrease from last June (810,884 visits). It is also a decrease from June 2016 (838,316 visits) which remains the busiest month on record in Yellowstone.

So far in 2019, the park has hosted 1,358,629 visits, down 1.7 percent from the same period last year. Year-to-date visitation in 2019 is 4.6 percent higher than five years ago in 2015.

Year-to-date Recreation Visits (through June):

2019 – 1,358,629

2018 – 1,381,707

2017 – 1,354,138

2016 – 1,432,071

2015 – 1,298,855