Charges filed in 2-year-old Athian Rivera's death

CHEYENNE – Wyatt Dean Lamb, a suspect in the death of 2-year-old Athian Rivera, has been charged with the toddler's murder, the Laramie County District Attorney's office announced late Monday afternoon.

Lamb has been charged with murder and multiple counts of child abuse, District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove said in a statement emailed to media. The charges were filed Monday in Laramie County Circuit Court.

Rivera's body was found Feb. 19 in a dumpster at an apartment complex in the 400 block of Desmet Drive, shortly after the toddler was declared missing.

A circuit court clerk said Monday that charging documents and a probable cause affidavit would be available to the public after a warrant was served to Lamb. That is likely to happen sometime Tuesday.

Lamb is currently in custody in the Laramie County jail. He has been held there without bond since March 4, after an appearance in Laramie County District Court on prior domestic violence charges. 

In February 2020, Lamb was charged with felony strangulation of a household member, identified as then-girlfriend Kassandra Orona, who is the mother of Rivera. He was also charged with misdemeanor property destruction and interfering with a peace officer.

At the March 4 hearing, Manlove argued Lamb should be held without bond because he is “the sole identified suspect in an aggravated child abuse and homicide investigation.”

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Man extricated from overturned semi and life flighted to Casper

GILLETTE – A 67-year-old man was extricated from the “crushed” cab of his semitrailer Saturday morning after the truck veered off the road into a barrow ditch.

The man was driving on Edwards Road south of Wright when he veered off the road, overcorrected his steering and wound up flipped onto the driver’s side outside the opposite lane of traffic, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds.

Firefighters began trying to cut him out around 8:30 a.m. It wasn’t until about 9:45 a.m. that he was freed and then flown by air ambulance to Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, said Fire Department Battalion Chief Kate Eischeid.

The rolled tanker was empty, which she said helped simplify the rescue. But removing the man was a more complicated matter.

Having landed on its driver’s side, the truck’s cab was crushed and the man was pinned at several points of his lower body. The vehicle had to be stabilized to cut him out, but each cut changed the stability of the truck hanging on its side.

“We used all of the equipment we had on our trucks,” Eischeid said. “Being that it was in the barrow ditch and still at an angle, gravity was wanting to overturn it more.”

North Antelope Rochelle Mine offered firefighters a boom truck to help with the operation. Using the heavy machinery’s winch to put tension on the overturned semi and prevent it from rolling more, firefighters were able to speed up the rescue.

Wyoming Life Flight was ready to fly the driver to Casper as soon as he was freed, Eischeid said. 

The driver's condition is unknown, Reynolds said, along with what caused him to lose control of the semi.

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100 attend "Dems Roundup" in Banner

SHERIDAN — More than 100 Sheridan and Johnson County Democrats enjoyed a potluck, music, political organizing and socializing last week at a “Dems Roundup” at Kearney Community Hall in Banner.

“Turnout was better than we could have imagined,” said Sheridan County Democrats vice-chair David Myers.

The Cory McDaniel Duo from Casper provided music while party organizers informed attendees about recent projects including rallies and legislative outreach for Medicaid expansion, advocating for fully-funded public education and working with the Sheridan Police Department on improving bicycle safety in Sheridan.

“Democrats have a wide range of interests — from the environment, climate change and public lands to expanding health care, access to worker’s rights and affordable housing,” Myers said. “This event was a great way to let like-minded people know that Democrats are out there working for the things that they value, and we’re not going anywhere.”

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Police investigating death of 42-year-old deli owner

JACKSON — Police are investigating the death of a well-known Jackson man found behind his business Monday morning.

Nick Bochicchio, owner of Creekside Market and Deli, was 42.

Police said someone who works in the building discovered him lying near Flat Creek around 6:30 a.m.

The person walked into work and said “there appears to be a man sleeping by the creek,” Jackson Police Lt. Russ Ruschill said.

His death is still pending investigation, Teton County Coroner Brent Blue said, but is not being considered suspicious.

Because the area around the deli is highly trafficked, police used emergency vehicles to screen the scene “to keep people away and have less trauma,” Ruschill said.

Bochicchio moved here in junior high and took a job as a line cook at Snake River Brewing shortly after graduation, according to a “Chef Notes” profile published in 2016 in the Jackson Hole News&Guide.

By age 22, Bochicchio was the chef.

In 2006 he bought the deli, then called Park Place, and renamed it Creekside.