This is a developing story.

MARSHFIELD – A man and a woman were killed at a home in Marshfield Tuesday night, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday.

Police were called at 9:30 pm Tuesday to a home on Gotham Hill Drive, where a double homicide investigation was underway. Detectives were seen searching the area for hours, and the Medical Examiner’s Office arrived at the scene early Wednesday.

Officials said it does not appear to be a random act of violence.

The victim’s names have not been released.

A press conference is scheduled for 10 am Wednesday. The Patriot Ledger will have more information when it becomes available.

Information from Patriot Ledger media partner WCVB was used in this report.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Police investigating double homicide in Marshfield

File photo: Gephardt Daily

UINTAH COUNTY, Utah, Nov. 29, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A 43-year-old woman died after a rollover crash in Uintah County Monday evening.

The accident happened at about 7:53 pm near mile marker 138 on State Route 40, southwest of Vernal. The female driver was driving a Dodge pickup truck, heading east.

“The weather conditions were snowing with blowing winds and iced-over roads,” a Utah Highway Patrol statement says.

The driver “lost control, ran off the road to the right, and overturned multiple times. The driver was ejected from the vehicle, and the 47-year-old male passenger was pinned.”

Both were transported to a hospital by ambulance.

“We were notified the driver had died from her injuries a short time later,” the UHP statement says.

“Both occupants appeared to be wearing their seatbelts, and no impairment is suspected.”

The condition of the male passenger is not known.

The red arrow marks the approximate location of the rollover. Image: Google Maps

The Greene County Relations Court received more than $85,000 in funding to help them handle the influx of protection orders this year.

Petitions for domestic violence civil protection orders and civil stalking protection orders have increased nearly 75 percent, according to a release.

To help address this the court applied for and was awarded two grants totaling over $85,000.

>> DeWine announces more than $57M in safety grants for hundreds of schools

The funds allowed the courts to hire for a new position, Domestic Violence and Clerk Liason, to help process increased filings.

It also allowed them to purchase a new x-ray scanner and additional courtroom security, according to a release.

The court said the funding helps them improve the court function without burdening taxpayers.

It began as a simple concept sketched out on a napkin seven years ago.

Sid Dusel and Troy Fellbaum were brainstorming ways to help the veteran community in Sweetwater County while keeping their efforts somewhat discreet.

Unfortunately, Troy passed away in 2015 and Sid put the idea on the back burner for about a year. But when several members of the American Legion riders’ club approached him about getting his idea off the ground, Sid knew it was time to put rubber to the road.

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And that’s how the Unknown Saints Riders’ Club got off the ground.

“That fall I put pen to paper and started to figure out what I wanted and how I wanted people to perceive us,” Sid said. “That following January we started really focusing on what we wanted our patch to be like, what our purpose was going to be and what our mission was all about.”

Unknown Saints patch

Twenty one members “stood the club up” in February 2016 at which time they voted in their by-laws and created a mission statement:

“Through all our efforts, we choose to dedicate our time, money and friendship. We give support to our veterans ; past, present and future, pay our respects to the fallen heroes and families of both fallen and not, help the wounded so they may lead a fulfilling life, ride in honor of those who cannot, continue with a commitment to our children and youth also our community . We do this with laying no claim of territory. We are the Unknown Saints RC.”

The Unknown Saints then began to slowly creep into the public with a philanthropic vision that began mainly with members of American Legion Archie Hay Post #24.

Three years into their existence and on the strength of their community involvement locally, The Unknown Saints decided to branch out and form a charter in the Bridger Valley.

The Bridger Valley branch is celebrating its five-year anniversary this year and The Unknown Saints continue to uphold the values ​​which define their commitment to those communities.

We stuck true to what we’re about. It’s about the veterans in our community, the children of veterans, and the community itself.

Sid Dusel, President, Unknown Saints Riders’ Club

Contributions have included financial assistance, helping veterans find affordable housing, and even giving a veteran a ride from Laramie to Rock Springs so he could catch a bus to visit family in Sheridan. Sid says about 30% of the club membership is still very active in assisting veterans through the American Legion.

Eventually The Unknown Saints generosity expanded to The Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Sweetwater County, Western Wyoming Community College, and other local organizations.

A Budding Partnership

Joe Tallon Jr. and Christy Austin approached Sid about a year ago with the idea that the Unknown Saints partner with Rocky Mountain Power in assisting the company with its community efforts. Sid said this was a great opportunity to give community members who don’t qualify for American Legion membership a chance to get involved.

“(RPM representative) Ron (Wild) said ‘okay…let’s make you famous.’ But I’m not looking to be famous,” Sid continued. “We want to be associated with the riding clubs that get noticed by the work they do, not by the individual or people doing the work.”

Wild said he could make that happen, and a successful partnership was born.

The Unknown Saints contributions continued to spread throughout the community including:

• Partnering with RMP to hold monthly food drives.
• Teaming up with Albertson’s Grocery Store, the Food Bank and other motorcycle groups to form a coalition for the “tons of turkey” Thanksgiving dinner distribution.
• Participating in the annual Toys for Tots Christmas run with Flaming Gorge Harley Davidson and the Rock Springs Fire Department.

Sid says the club’s efforts caught the eye of Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce Director Rick Lee who gave them even more projects to assist on and helped with public relations for the group.

“(Rick) took notice that we are not your typical volunteers,” Sid continued. “Most of us wear black leather and black jeans. We have long hair and tattoos and ride motorcycles. He gave us the opportunity to step out of that persona.”

Lee invited the Unknown Saints to enter the Chamber’s inaugural Fourth of July Parade this year which they gladly accepted. The club plans to participate in the annual Parade of Lights on December 3, and they’ve also decorated a tree along Dewar Drive for the holidays.

Unknown in Name Only

The Unknown Saints pride themselves in going about their business in the most inconspicuous manner possible. But when you give back to your community the way they have, it’s bound to get noticed.

The club received the Community Involvement Award at the annual Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce Rock Star Awards Banquet earlier this month. Sid called the award “a bit of an eye-opener” because when the charter first began he didn’t want the club to be recognized for anything other than “the little things we did.”

But Joe said Wild warned them that once they got started down this path, it would open a Pandora’s box that would lead to the group being not so “unknown.”

We’re trying to get out more and more into the community to show people this is what we do, and this is how we do it.

Unknown Saints Vice President Joe Tallon Jr.

The Unknown Saints have expanded to 27 members in Rock Springs, 22 in Mountain View, and nine under a new charter that was opened in Green River in September. They’re talking to people all around Wyoming and beyond to try to grow their philanthropic reach.

“Our goal is to get as much of the State of Wyoming as we can so that people outside the State of Wyoming start taking notice,” said Sid. “We have a couple of sayings in the Unknown Saints that go ‘we’re going to turn a tire for those who can’t, and we don’t know them all but we owe them all.”

During this season of outreach, it’s fitting to watch an idea hatched more than seven years ago bloomed into the generous goodwill which embodies the spirit of The Unknown Saints.

Tammy Ayer / Yakima Herald Republic

Utah investigators have identified a Yakima man as a suspect in the 1972 Thanksgiving weekend murder of an Army veteran and the rape of his companion.

Daniel Arthur Bell, who died at age 87 on March 7, 2019, was identified through extensive DNA testing as one of two men suspected of killing Gregory Dahl Nickell on Nov. 26, 1972, the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Bell was identified with help from state investigators and forensic scientists.

Immediately after the killing at a scenic overlook west of Vernal, Utah, Bell and the other man abducted Nickell’s date and later raped her. The identity of the second suspect remains unknown but forensic testing is ongoing, and investigators continue to develop and follow leads.

Bell was living at Garden Village in Yakima when he died, according to his death notice in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Detectives are optimistic that Bell’s identification might bring more information that will lead them to the second suspect, whom they believe is younger than Bell by several years.

“It’s a tragedy that it’s taken 50 years to identify one suspect,” said Uintah County Sheriff Steve Labrum. “It’s my hope that, with the public’s help, we will identify the other suspect much, much sooner.”

They want to talk to anyone who might recall the people associated with Bell in 1972, or anyone with any possible information about the case.

“Greg’s family deserves answers. The woman who was sexually assaulted that night deserves answers,” Labrum said. “If you’re the person who can help us give them answers, please come forward now and talk with our investigators.”

Tex and Johnny

Nickell and his date were parked at the scenic overlook sometime after 1 am on Nov. 26, 1972, when a man knocked on Nickell’s car window. Nickell, who had recently returned to Vernal after being honorably discharged from the Army, rolled the window down.

The man said there had been a crash, and asked Nickell, who was 21, to drive into Vernal to report it. Nickell said he would help.

As Nickell turned from the window, the man shot him with a .22-caliber pistol. He fired at least three more shots into Nickell’s body before shoving him on top of the 18-year-old woman in the passenger seat, getting into the car and driving onto US Route 40.

The woman told investigators the man pointed a gun at her head and threatened her as he drove. A second vehicle pulled up behind them, flashed its headlights and pulled around them, the sheriff’s office said. The kidnapper followed the second vehicle and the woman said she realized he had a partner.

The two men, whom the woman referred to as “Tex” and “Johnny” during interviews with investigators, drove to a remote area near the present-day Brough Reservoir. The woman said she was moved to the back seat of the second vehicle and her head was covered with a coat or blanket. The men used gas from Nickell’s car to set his vehicle on fire with his body inside.

Afterwards, they drove around for several hours with the woman. She told investigators each man raped her once before they left her on the side of the highway near Duchesne, about 60 miles from where she had been abducted.

The woman walked to a nearby farmhouse for help and law enforcement was notified. Because the men kept her head covered for most of her ordeal, she said, she wasn’t able to see much. She was unable to provide investigators with a good description of her attackers and couldn’t say where they had taken her between the time they killed Nickell and released her.

A police officer in Rangely, Colo., reported seeing a car occupied by two men and a woman that night, which made a U-turn when the driver spotted the officer. The driver sped away, headed toward the Book Cliffs, and the officer was unable to catch him.

The sheriff’s office set up roadblocks and conducted a four-day air and ground search of the Book Cliffs, but had no luck finding the men or their vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff’s investigators also sent more than 30 pieces of evidence to the FBI Crime Lab for analysis. Nothing came of it then. But forensic evidence collected from the woman at the hospital in Vernal shortly after her kidnappers released her turned out to be the key to identifying Bell as a suspect.

Forensic evidence key

In January 2020, sheriff’s investigators resubmitted the evidence collected at the hospital in 1972 to the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services — the state crime lab — for testing. Two “unknown male” DNA profiles were found and submitted to state and national databases.

Sheriff’s detectives were notified in September 2020 that one of the two unknown DNA profiles matched Bell. They also learned Bell died in March 2019 in Yakima and was cremated.

Sheriff’s office detectives Vance Norton and Chase Hall began researching Bell to see if there was additional evidence that would link him to the murder and rape, evidence that might also lead them to the second suspect.

They learned Bell lived in the Uintah Basin at the time of the crime. He worked on a ranch in the Book Cliffs south of Vernal and was familiar with the area’s back roads.

Bell moved from Utah at some point after 1972, according to the sheriff’s office. He was convicted of rape in Oregon in 1988, was paroled in 1999 and moved to Washington state, where he remarried.

His widow in Washington has cooperated with sheriff’s investigators, as have members of his family in the Uintah Basin. Norton and Hall obtained samples from two of Bell’s adult children in Utah and submitted them to the crime lab for comparison.

When tested against the DNA profiles from the evidence collected in 1972, the samples from Bell’s children were consistent with a parent/child relationship, according to the lab, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff thanked the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services and Statewide Intelligence Analysis Center for their work and ongoing support in the case.

“I’m grateful as well to the State Bureau of Investigation for the support and advanced DNA testing resources they’ve provided via the national Sexual Assault Kit Initiative,” Labrum said.

Labrum also praised Norton, Hall and the other sheriff’s detectives and crime scene technicians who continue to work to solve the case.

“We are committed to finding the truth, committed to finding the other person responsible for taking Greg from his family and forever changing the life of the woman who was with Greg that night,” he said.

Milwaukee fatal shooting; 35-year-old dead at 21st and Keefe

A 35-year-old Milwaukee man is dead following a shooting near 21st and Keefe around 12:30 am on Sunday, Nov. 6.

MILWAUKEE – A 35-year-old Milwaukee man is dead following a shooting near 21st and Keefe on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Officials said the shooting happened around 12:30 am Officers located the victim with a gunshot wound on the arm and chest. The victim was taken to the hospital and later died from his wounds.

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Detectives are investigating the circumstances of the shooting.

Anyone with any information on this case is urged to contact Milwaukee Police at 414-935-7360 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414- 224 tips or P3 Tips.

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The Utah Office of the State Auditor has released a report chiding Uintah County for bad accounting practices and improper spending of federal funds meant to address the coronavirus pandemic.

The state’s audit, which evaluated the county’s 2020 finances, identified 13 problems “spanning the entire spectrum of government accounting from its tone at the top to its day-to-day management” of funds, according to a news release issued Wednesday.

County commissioners “blurred the lines of accountability” when they took budget responsibilities from the county’s clerk/auditor, according to the audit. The clerk/auditor, in turn, “lacks the requisite skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary” to prepare financial reports, it said. Some officials circumvented polices for procuring contracts and internal controls, the audit found, “creating a perception that those internal controls were not important.”

But what spurred the audit, and resulted in some of its more significant findings, were complaints about the Commission’s decision to spend pandemic relief funds to expand a tubing hill and to award business grants to their family members.

“We received multiple anonymous whistleblower tips expressing concerns with spending of certain COVID-related federal money,” State Auditor John Dougall said in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Uintah County resisted responding to Dougall’s initial inquiries about those funds, he added, and he directed his team to perform the audit.

“I’m deeply troubled by the severity of financial impairment in Uintah County government, particularly the disregard for regulations required for federal funding,” Dougall wrote in the Wednesday news release.

In a written response to the audit, county commissioners called the audit “unlawful” and disagreed with many of its findings.

Pandemic spending

When Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act last spring, it directed the state of Utah to direct and overseas funds in most of the state’s counties due to their population size. Uintah County received $5.1 million.

The audit found that nearly $3.5 million went to business economic recovery grants in the county, but officials overseeing those dollars didn’t do anything to verify or document whether applicants had been impacted by the pandemic.

Of those grants, $117,000 went to “companies owned by certain County officials and their immediate family members.” The Tribune previously reported that Commissioner Bart Haslem’s son received $20,000 in CARES money for his aviation business and Haslem’s wife received $20,000 for her travel business. Commissioner Brad Horrocks’ sons also received a total of $77,000 for their RV, farm, energy and hunting outfitter businesses.

Another $243,751 went to purchase equipment for the Buckskin Hills Ski and Snow Tubing Hill, the audit found, which was not adequately documented. The governor’s office had questioned why the equipment couldn’t be leased, instead, to meet the needs of a public health response, and some of the funds didn’t have sufficient proof that they were spent on pandemic-related needs.

A request for public records sent in January showed Uintah County had spent at least $322,000 on the tubing hill.

The audit further called into question the commission’s decision to buy six snow guns for the tubing hill from the same vendor at $19,999 each, which was exactly one dollar below the threshold that would have required the commission to solicit bids. The commission changed that policy days later, according to the audit.

Circumventing the public procurement process was apparently a pattern of behavior of the commission in 2020, with the audit noting several other examples. The county paid $42,200 to a single consultant for social media and communication services without a contract or bidding process. In November 2020, the commissioners purchased a $159,000 body scanner for the jail without soliciting bids, then retroactively changed policies to allow for the expense, the audit claims.

“Retroactively amending policies creates a perception that following established policies is not important,” the audit notes.

In addition, the audit dinged the county for not disclosing conflicts of interest for elected officials and officers last year. It chided county officials for using poorly designed and difficult to track financial software. It claimed county workers lacked “sufficient experience and training,” causing them to bungle management of other federal grants, putting future funding at risk.

County officials respond

In a written response to the audit, commissioners called the audit “unlawful,” pointing to state code that notes Dougall’s office cannot conduct “performance” or “special purpose” audits on public entities that already have elected auditors and have had their finances reviewed by to an outside auditor within the last budget year.

“We believe audits are necessary and that audits show things you need to improve on,” Haslem said in an interview with The Tribune. “But the audit that was done by the state auditor, it was done illegally.”

The county commissioned its own independent audit after the state began its review. It listed similar issues noted by Dougall’s office and found some additional ones, such as improperly noticed public meetings. That report also attached to the state’s audit, noting that those findings should be considered.

While the county commission’s reply disputed the legality of the state audit, it proceeded to respond to the listed problems, disagreeing with the bulk of them. The commissioners claimed, for example, that they properly documented the need for tubing hill expenses during discussions at public meetings.

“We didn’t build a tubing hill with the [CARES] money, we expanded the tubing hill,” Haslem told The Tribune, adding that expansion was needed during the pandemic for “spacing, getting people outside.”

The commissioner acknowledged that the audit did make a handful of valid points — their financial tracking software needs an overhaul, for example. They should have filed conflict of interest disclosures. And they should have solicited bids for their social media contractor.

“We agree, we screwed up,” Haslem said.

But he disagreed with most of the audit’s claims and said Dougall was using the audit to “bully” the county. “I’m not trying to start a war with the state auditor,” Haslem said, “[but] I would like to see each agency follow what the state code is.”

The commission refused to sign a representation letter asserting the county had properly reported its financial information, developed sound internal controls and that it took responsibility for its financial statements — something all financial audits require, Dougall told The Tribune.

Asked why the commission declined to sign the letter, Haslem alluded to a feud commissioners had with the county’s clerk/auditor, Mike Wilkins. The commissioners stripped Wilkins of his budget oversight authority in 2019 and assigned it to a new budget officer under their direction — something the audit criticized the county for as an obfuscation of accountability. Earlier this year, they also attempted to strip the clerk/auditor of his accounting authority, which Wilkins decried as an upset of checks and balances.

That effort lost its steam when a similar move in Utah County stoked the ire of Lt. gov. Deidre Henderson, who called it “insane,” and Utah Sen. Jake Anderegg, who called it a “power grab.”

But the state’s audit found several concerns related to the Uintah County Clerk/Auditor’s Office as well, calling Wilkins’ skills and expertise into question.

Wilkins told The Tribune the commissioners “threw me under the bus,” but referred the newspaper to his written response to the state auditor’s findings.

In that reply, which was briefer and more measured than the rebuttal from commissioners, Wilkins also disagreed with many of the findings related to his office as well as the assessment of his abilities. Still, he noted his office will “strive harder” to track county assets and establish internal controls.

The state’s audit concluded by noting county leadership’s response “highlights the lack of understanding and lack of responsibility” over the county’s financial reporting and oversight, which the auditor called “concerning.”

“While penalties might be imposed,” Dougall told The Tribune, “we hope that our office and other stakeholders can work with various county officials to help Uintah County take appropriate corrective action.”

UINTAH COUNTY, Utah — Naples City Police Chief Andrew Cox passed away unexpectedly at his home on Saturday, according to a press release from the Uintah County’s Sheriff’s Office.

Cox, 47, suffered a fatal medical event, according to authorities. Unfortunately, when first responders arrived at the scene, Cox was already deceased.

Comments on the passing of the Naples City Police Chief

The Naples City Police Department issued a statement Sunday evening on the passing of Chief Cox.

The statement read: “Drew created a huge network of friends and colleagues; he was a friend to everyone he met,” the statement read. “There wasn’t a time he entered a room that everyone didn’t know he was there. He spent his life and career trying to make a difference for the people he encountered, both on and off the job. Many will remember his sense of humor and the fact that he always had a joke for everyone. Our community will miss him greatly. The Naples City Police Department is honored to continue its legacy of service.”

Additional comments

The Utah Peace Officers Association through Duchesne County Sheriff Travis Tucker issued a statement on the passing of Chief Cox.

It read: “We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Naples City Police Chief Drew Cox. Chief Cox was a very savvy and trusted officer who served Duchesne County valiantly for many years as a member of the Sheriff’s office,” the statement read. “His expertise and knowledge of K9 training and handling was well known, highly admired and much sought after. Chief Cox was instrumental in developing K9 programs for many agencies in our area.”

Additionally, the Jensen Fire Department also issued a statement on the passing of Chief Cox.

The statement read: “Our heart felt sympathy is with the Cox family and the Naples PD Chief Cox was a great man and officer. We were honored to have known him,” the statement read.

Chief Cox had served in law enforcement for more than 20 years. Prior to becoming chief, Cox had served as a lieutenant, officer, and detective.

No other information was available.

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (KIFI) – On Nov. 15, 2022, a fatal crash occurred at milepost 375 on Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne. At 4:19 pm, Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers were notified of a motor vehicle collision.

A 2017 Peterbilt Conventional commercial truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 80 and collided head-on with a westbound 2015 Chevrolet Silverado traveling on the wrong side of the Interstate.

The driver of the Peterbilt has been identified as Christopher Batchelder, a 41-year-old resident of Vernal, Utah. Batchelder was wearing his seatbelt and was not injured in the crash.

The driver of the Chevrolet has been identified as Charles Swainson, a 57-year-old resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Swainson was not wearing his seatbelt and succumbed to his injuries at the crash scene.

A medical condition on the part of Swainson is being investigated as a possible contributing factor.

This is the 117th fatality on Wyoming’s roadways in 2022 compared to 101 in 2021, 118 in 2020, and 136 in 2019.

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