Several Wyoming counties have sounded the alarm over an unexplained rise in “unnatural deaths,” leaving officials searching for answers as the body count continues to rise.
A chilling report has warned that suicides, accidents, overdoses and murders are “through the roof” and on track to make this year one of the worst on record. State of the Cowboys Diary reported.
Natrona County Coroner Jim Whipps told county commissioners: “This has been an abnormal year, kind of a roller coaster ride as far as unnatural deaths go.”
“Unnatural deaths in all their forms are increasing. I don’t know why, but homicides, suicides, overdoses… are way above what would be the average for us,” he added.
The grim statistics paint a disturbing picture: there have already been 20 suicides this year, five of them in August alone.
A Wyoming county is in the midst of a surge in “unnatural deaths,” leaving officials scrambling to find answers as the body count continues to rise
Natrona County Coroner Jim Whipps told county commissioners: “This has been an abnormal year, kind of a roller coaster ride as far as unnatural deaths go.”
There have already been five homicides so far this year, compared to just three in all of 2023, Cowboy State Daily reported.
In addition, 36 people died from workplace accidents and incidents, and drug overdose deaths also exceeded the figures for 2023.
But perhaps most alarming is what Whipps calls one of the biggest “surprises” of the year: a rise in the number of young people in their 20s and 30s dying from “chronic alcoholism.”
The county has also been rocked by youth violence, with several high-profile murders making headlines across the state.
In June, 15-year-old Eavan Castaner was charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Lenea Brown, who was shot in the head in a quiet southwest Casper neighborhood.
In Casper, 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Maher was stabbed to death on April 7 after defending his girlfriend from two teenage boys at a shopping mall.
The county has also been rocked by youth violence, with several high-profile murders making headlines across the state. Pictured: Mourners pay tribute to 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Maher, who was stabbed to death
In June, 15-year-old Eavan Castaner was charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Lenea Brown, who was shot in the head in a quiet southwest Casper neighborhood.
In July, three members of the gospel group The Nelons died in a tragic plane crash. The group consisted of Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and Kelly’s daughters Amber Nelon Kistler and Autumn Nelon Streetman.
Kelly, Jason and Amber were among those killed in the crash, along with Amber’s husband, Nathan Kistler, and three friends. They were on the cruise ship returning to Gaither’s home when the plane crashed in a remote area of northeastern Wyoming.
While Whipps did not pinpoint an exact cause for the deadly surge, he warned that Natrona County is “on track statistically to have another record year in 2020-21,” referencing the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the crisis is not limited to Natrona County alone.
In nearby Campbell County, Coroner Paul Wallem reported a troubling 36 percent increase in unnatural deaths, up from 33.3 percent in 2023.
Also in July, three members of the gospel group The Nelons died in a tragic plane crash. They were on Gaither’s cruise ship home when the plane crashed in a remote area of northeastern Wyoming. (Pictured: The Nelons, from left, Jason Clark, Autumn Nelon Streetman, Kelly Nelon Clark and Amber Nelon Kistler)
In nearby Campbell County, Coroner Paul Wallem (pictured) reported a disturbing 36 percent increase in unnatural deaths, up from 33.3 percent in 2023.
There have been 31 unnatural deaths so far this year, he said.
“At the beginning of the year, we saw a noticeable increase in traffic accidents like we hadn’t seen in seven or ten years,” he told the outlet. “That has recently normalized.”
Not everyone agrees, however: Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker reports no unusual spikes in his tourist-heavy region.
Some city officials said other Wyoming counties are not experiencing the same deadly trend.
Carbon County Coroner Brittany Nyman reported seeing a decrease in unnatural deaths.
“We haven’t had any overdoses this year. We’re a little more relaxed,” he said.
Whipps expressed similar concerns in a recent documentary that focused on the county’s skyrocketing suicide rate.
Wyoming, which for years had the highest suicide rate of any state, is part of the “suicide belt” that runs along the mountainous stretch of land from the tip of Montana to New Mexico.
Whipps said in the 2023 film: ‘More research has been done on what’s going on here, from the altitude to the wind to the cowboy attitude that has prevailed in the state since its inception.
“And there has been no result. There has to be something different about the way we think and form conclusions compared to much of the rest of the world, and I just don’t know what it is.”
“That’s probably one of the most frustrating things, because you can’t generalize.”
Whipps continued: “Every case I see is unique.”
Publicly available statistics support his claims, although it is unknown how he arrived at the conclusion that Natrona has the fourth highest suicide rate in the world.
According to the coroner’s office, there were 28 suicides in the county in 2019. In 2020, there were 19, which is a 33 percent drop. The average between 2012 and 2019 was nearly 24.
In nearby Campbell County, there has been a disturbing 36 percent increase in unnatural deaths, up from 33.3 percent in 2023.
Casper and the surrounding region have become a hotbed of violence, Whipps said. Suicides have also been noted in nearby Mills and Evansville, where life is decidedly slow.
Robert ‘Bobby’ Maher, 14, was stabbed to death on April 7 after defending his girlfriend from two teenagers at a mall in Casper, Wyoming (Pictured: The memorial for Bobby Maher at Eastridge Mall, where the teenager was stabbed to death in Casper, Wyoming)
Some attribute Wyoming’s high suicide rate to its sparse, remote landscape and lack of suicide prevention programs.
For the first time since 2017, Wyoming fell out of the No. 1 spot in the country in terms of suicides last year, but has since regained the dubious distinction from Montana.
The state currently has a suicide rate of 32.3 percent of all deaths, driven by 155 suicide deaths last year, according to the state Department of Health.
That’s down from 190 the year before, but Casper and the surrounding region have become a hotbed for suicides, Whipps said. Suicides have also been seen in nearby Mills and Evansville, where life is decidedly slow.
“It’s time to take a top-down approach through policy and implementing programs in schools like Sources of Strength, which is a more broad-based and proven resilience program,” Whipps said.
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