A Week After Shooting Death Of Pine Bluffs Crop Duster, Friend Still Shocked

As the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the June 24 shooting death of a Pine Bluffs crop duster, those who knew him say they’re still shocked.

Kevin Hefley, 52, a local pilot and owner of Airtime Aerial, was shot and killed in the 1200 block of County Road 157 that afternoon, and that’s about all the information the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has released so far.

A “shooter has been located,” the agency said in its initial report of the shooting that day. No other details are being released as the investigation continues, including whether the incident reflects an alleged criminal act on the shooter’s part.

Mark Clark of Stonewall, Oklahoma, was a friend of Hefley’s when they attended Kansas State University, where they were both on the rodeo team.

He told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that Hefley’s death is hard to believe.

Rodeo Teammate

“We were on the K State rodeo team together and Kevin was a bareback rider,” Clark said. “We just kind of kept in contact with one another. He hails from Walsh, Colorado, where he is originally from.”

Clark, a commodities broker in Stonewall, Oklahoma, said Hefley was a successful rancher with his brother and father in Walsh. He said Hefley always had a passion for flying and after his divorce got into a crop-dusting career.

That business took Hefley on spraying jobs in Wyoming, as well as Arizona, Texas and other states.

“He got to where he really enjoyed it,” Clark said.

He said Hefley got married again in 2015 and moved to Wyoming, but he did not know much about his second wife, Christy, a professional barrel racer.

Clark said Hefley would reach out to him from time to time because he had bought a few cattle just to check on the markets. He characterized him as a “level-headed guy.”

“He was not one to fly off the handle or anything like that ever,” he said. “In all the years that I knew him, I never saw him do that.”

‘Under Investigation’

Laramie County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brian Warner said he understands there is a lot of interest in the case, but he wasn’t able to answer questions about it Monday.

“All we are releasing right now is that it is under investigation,” Warner said. “I wouldn’t expect anything else to be released until the investigation is complete.”

No arrests have been announced, and Warner said he couldn’t answer questions about the weapon, how many times Hefley was shot or the property where the incident took place.

Calls to the Laramie County Coroner’s Office about whether there has been an autopsy in the case were not returned by the time this story was published.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.