First-Degree Murder Charge For Wind River Man Accused In Retaliation Ambush

A Fremont County man has been charged with first-degree murder 10 months after the body of a missing Riverton man was found shot to death on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Jose A. Gonzalez, born in 1971, was bound over to Fremont County District Court on Friday, accused of luring Rex Allen Lofts to a property on the reservation known to locals as “The Farm,” where five other people were waiting to ambush him.

An affidavit of probable cause written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Kingston Cole paints a convoluted picture of alleged domestic violence and retaliation that ended in Lofts disappearing. He was found dead in his truck with two bullets in him.

While Gonzalez so far is the only person charged in Lofts’ death, interviews with a network of confidential informants also point to others being present when Lofts was killed, helping to hide the body. At least one later told others he had gotten rid of Lofts, the affidavit says.

A week after Lofts was found dead in his truck on April 21, 2025, a confidential informant met with DCI agents, telling them that another man, EE, told him “that he had ‘done it’ — killed Lofts,” the affidavit says.

EE said that Lofts allegedly beat up his girlfriend, who also is EE’s aunt, the informant explained.

At some point, she went to the informant’s residence, arriving “with bruises on her person and bleeding from her nose,” Cole wrote, adding that the informant called EE to come pick her up.

EE did and took her back to The Farm, then he later told the informant that “they had taken care of Lofts because he had hurt (the woman) and that they needed money for a run or something.”

A second informant told agents that EE told him/her basically the same thing when running into him in late December 2024.

“(EE) told him/her something to the effect of, ‘I had to take care of somebody,’” the affidavit says. “Asked if that ‘somebody’ was Lofts … (EE) stated, ‘Yes,’ and that he ‘took him out.’”

Why The Charge For Gonzalez?

While EE allegedly told informants he was the one who had snuffed Lofts, the only physical evidence that ties anyone to the crime points to Gonzalez, according to the affidavit.

Gonzalez rode with Lofts in the cab of his truck to The Farm that day, purported to be on or around Dec. 2, 2024, the document says. Gonzalez had convinced Lofts to drive there by telling him the girlfriend he allegedly assaulted wanted to see him.

Although Gonzalez told investigators others ambushed Lofts, it was his DNA that was found on the truck’s steering wheel and on the turned-out pockets of Lofts’ pants, reportedly after they robbed him. Multiple spots in the affidavit mention $90 and drugs were taken from the victim.

“Gonzalez stated, in summary, that he had not driven Lofts’ truck; that he had been in the passenger (seat) of Loft’s truck when Lofts arrived at ‘The Farm’ looking for (the girlfriend),” the affidavit says.

But when they got there, the other five men allegedly involved were waiting.

“When they got out (there), they just come up to the truck and Lofts locked his door and (ZW, one of the other men) put a gun — probably just shot the ground — and almost hit EE,” Gonzalez told investigators, according to the affidavit.

“And then, uh, I don’t know if Lofts was able to pull his gun or not, uh, I know he had one,” the document continues. “But all of a sudden, the shooting just started and, and I-I-I rolled out of the truck and …”

The recount trails off there.

The other men pulled in around Lofts’ truck, then “they come flying in and they all jumped out of the vehicles,” Gonzalez said, adding that ZW “pulled out his gun and tapped on the window, and then fired a shot to the ground, uhm, and then Lofts had his gun down besides him.

“So, I don’t know who shot first or if Lofts even got a shot or what. All I know is the shooting just started,” the affidavit says. “I just, I opened the door and I kind of rolled out the side of the door.”

What EE Said

That interview with Gonzalez was Aug. 28, the same day Cole and a DCI team leader talked with EE.

The team leader “asked EE if their intentions were to rob Lofts,” the affidavit says. “EE stated, ‘No.’ EE went on to say that their/his intention was to scare” Lofts.

Asked why he or the other five men wanted to scare him, EE pointed to the assault on Gonzalez’s girlfriend, who also is EE’s aunt.

“Because he kept putting his hands on my auntie,” EE said, according to the affidavit.

One of the confidential informants told agents that EE gave more information about what happened that day.

“EE had stated something to the effect of ‘Lofts pulled out his gun, I pulled out my gun,’ and that EE shot Lofts,” the affidavit says, adding that a gun wasn’t found at the location where Lofts’ body was recovered.

“EE went on to advise (the informant) that this event occurred at ‘The Farm’ and that SE (another man allegedly part of the group) helped EE with Lofts’ body and Lofts’ truck,” the affidavit says. 

Another tipster also gave the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office a copy of a text exchange with EE in January 2025, months before Lofts’ body was found, Cole wrote.

Tipster: “And bro did you and your sister have anything to do with (Gonzalez’s) man going missing?”

Tipster: “Bc that’s what its sounding like”

Tipster: “She was saying”

EE: “I can’t say anything about that but that should tell you enough”

Another Informant

A third confidential informant helped fill in some other holes in the convoluted story.

That person told agents that three of the other men moved Lofts’ body out of the driver’s seat of the pickup, then robbed Lofts of $90, his rings and a necklace, his gun, and about 3 grams of meth, the affidavit says.

Then another of the six men alleged to be involved in the ambush, FT, “got into the driver’s seat of Loft’s red pickup and that ZW and EE got into ZW’s vehicle,” the affidavit says. “ZW and EE followed FT across the river … to the location where Lofts and the red pickup were eventually found by law enforcement.”

If convicted of first-degree murder, Gonzalez faces life in prison. Accessory before the fact of aggravated robbery is punishable by 5-25 years in prison, and accessory before the fact of aggravated assault and battery carries up to 10 years in prison.

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.