Crime and Courts Reporter

Clair McFarland

Clair McFarland is a general assignment reporter for Cowboy State Daily and is based in Riverton, Wyoming. She specializes in crime and court reporting and social issues coverage. Clair also writes a twice-monthly column on motherhood and country living.

Previously, Clair wrote for The Ranger, the Lander Journal and the Wind River News. She is an award-winning journalist, columnist and poet, who joined Cowboy State Daily on Valentine's Day, 2022.

Find Clair McFarland

Latest from Clair McFarland

Teen Boys, 17 And 16, Arrested In 15-Year-Old Cheyenne Girl's Death

Cheyenne police on Tuesday arrested two teenage boys on suspicion of murder for what authorities believe was a drive-by shooting that killed a 15-year-old girl in a Cheyenne park last week.

Clair McFarlandMay 10, 2023

Riverton Police Issue Warning As Online Encounter Leads To Sextortion Of Local Teen

Riverton police responded Monday to a report that someone photoshopped the face of a local teen on a pornographic photo, then demanded $500 from the boy as extortion for not posting the photo online.

Clair McFarlandMay 09, 2023

A pair of Wyoming girls missing for 74 days after their mother took them from home in February have been found safe and reunited with their father. This photo is from the poster asking people to look out for the girls.

Wyoming Father Reunites With Daughters Taken By Mother For 74 Days

Jace Walsh of Alpine, Wyoming, was frantic for 74 days after his wife Stephanie, while battling mental health issues, took off with their two daughters. On Monday, he held his daughters for the first time since February.

Clair McFarlandMay 09, 2023

Sweetwater County School District 1 board Chairperson Carol Jelaco responds to local residents during a marathon meeting Monday

Parents Grill Rock Springs School Board Over Gender Transition Lawsuit

Parents, grandparents and a state representative confronted the Sweetwater County School District No. 1 board Monday over a lawsuit alleging the district hid a student's gender transition from her parents.

Clair McFarlandMay 09, 2023

Bryant Tillman, 33, was brutally bludgeoned a year ago — authorities believe with the butt of a gun. He died weeks later. His mother mourns as the FBI still hasn't made any arrests.

‘I Miss Him Every Day:’ One Year Later, Mother Of Fort Washakie Man Bludgeoned To Death Mourns Unsolved Murder

It's been a year since Bryant Tillman, 33, died of complications from being bludgeoned in a Fort Washakie trailer house. His mother hasn't stopped grieving, but no one has been arrested.

Clair McFarlandMay 08, 2023

Four Laramie County Deputies Hold Down Colorado Man For Blood Draw Drug Test

It took at least four Wyoming police officers to hold down and subdue a Colorado man who swore no one would draw his blood as evidence — moments before he told hospital workers he takes oxycodone for back pain.

Clair McFarlandMay 08, 2023

Wyoming Highway Patrol slate gray car 5 5 23

Wyoming Highway Patrol Rolls Out New Slate-Grey Patrol Cars But No One Likes Them

The Wyoming Highway Patrol assures the public that despite negative reaction over its new slate-grey patrol cars, most of the fleet will remain the sleek black many drivers already keep a sharp eye out for.

Clair McFarlandMay 05, 2023

Woman Strikes Plea Deal In Riverton Burning Tire Murder, Second Woman Headed To Trial

Chasity Washington gave a variant of guilty plea last month to a second-degree murder charge, but Kasia Monroe is still headed to trial in July for allegedly stabbing and beating a woman to death, then leaving her in a bathtub under a burning tire.

Clair McFarlandMay 05, 2023

Man Found Dead In Casper, Police Investigate As Homicide

Casper police are asking for help to solve what the Natrona County coroner has ruled a homicide in the Tuesday death of Daniel R. Swope, 48.

Clair McFarlandMay 05, 2023

Riverton Disability Care Group Client Fires Gun Found In Pile Of Donated Clothes

No one was hurt Thursday when the client of a community-based care facility for disabled people picked up a .45-caliber gun from some donated clothes and fired a round through a barrel and into the outside wall of a building, Riverton police say.

Clair McFarlandMay 05, 2023

Clair McFarland: My Sons Got Enough Touchdowns To Win Their Baseball Match

Clair McFarland writes: “They twist their skinny brown fingers around their bats. When each twin’s turn comes, he beats an atom plume out of the dusty home plate."

Clair McFarlandMay 04, 2023

Lander Man Accused Of Molesting Girls For 40 Years Questions Competency Of Victim

Donald Detimore of Lander, 70, has asked the Fremont County District Court to weigh whether a 50-year-old woman, who has joined two other women in accusing him of childhood sexual abuse, is mentally competent to testify against him.

Clair McFarlandMay 04, 2023

Other Authors

Cheyenne Teen Girl Arrested For Repeatedly Punching Dad In The Face

Cheyenne police arrested Aundreya Mitchell, 18, early Wednesday morning for allegedly punching her dad in the face multiple times.

Clair McFarlandMay 04, 2023

Tirso Munguia, 19, has agreed to plead guilty in the accidental shooting death of a 16-year-old Cheyenne girl in January.

Cheyenne Man To Plead Guilty For Shooting Teen While Playing With Gun

Tirso Munguia, 19, of Cheyenne, has agreed to plead guilty to shooting a 16-year-old girl in the head in January while handling a 9 mm pistol in exchange for dropping max sentence from 20 to 12 years in prison.

Clair McFarlandMay 04, 2023

A Wyoming Department of Transportation sand and plow truck clears a highway in District 1, which includes much of Carbon County, including Saratoga, where a man is accused to shooting at sand trucks because of their loud brakes.

Wyoming Man Accused Of Shooting At Highway Because Of Truckers' Loud Brakes

Luke Vargas, 42, is charged with aggravated assault after allegations that he shot an AR-15 toward Highway 130 to stop truckers from rolling into Saratoga with their loud jake brakes.

Clair McFarlandMay 03, 2023

Trans rights rally and albert sommers 5 3 23

Rock Springs School Allegedly Hiding Gender Transition From Parents Has Wyoming Lawmakers Regrouping

A Rock Springs couple’s lawsuit against their school district for allegedly gender transitioning their daughter behind their backs is galvanizing some Wyoming lawmakers to outlaw keeping parents out of those decisions.

Clair McFarlandMay 03, 2023

Man Killed In Shootout With Thermopolis Police Officer Identified

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation has identified Buck Laramore, 33, as the man who exchanged gunfire with Thermopolis Police Department Sgt. Mike Mascorro on Friday. Mascorro was wounded and Laramore died.

Clair McFarlandMay 03, 2023

Mayor Bruce Knell, left, was emotional at the conclusion of Tuesday's Casper City Council meeting as he apologized for a social media post he made about a newly opened abortion clinic in town. He also said he won't resign despite numerous calls for him to do so. The mayor also had support from many people Tuesday, like Tim Powell, right, who said that as an American, the mayor has as much right to express an opinion as anyone else.

Casper Mayor Gives Emotional Apology For Abortion Hellfire Post, Says He Won’t Resign

Casper Mayor Bruce Knell apologized to anyone who construed a fire emoji he posted under a news story about an abortion clinic that was targeted by an arsonist last year as an incitement of violence, but declined demands from some to resign.

Clair McFarlandMay 03, 2023

Three Dead, Including Child, After Two F-150s Collide East Of Casper

Three people, including a child, died when two F-150 trucks collided head-on east of Casper on Monday morning, the Wyoming Highway Patrol Reports.

Clair McFarlandMay 02, 2023

Gillette Mayor Wants Judge To Dismiss Atheist's $24 Million Lawsuit

Gillette Mayor Shay Lundvall is asking a judge to dismiss a 186-page, $24 million lawsuit filed by an atheist claiming suppression of religion.

Clair McFarlandMay 02, 2023

Wind river reservation sign 3 16 22 scaled

Wyoming Man Accused Of Threatening FBI Agent Had Just Come Home From ER Wounded From Shootout

The FBI arrested Leo Barnaby II of Fort Washakie for threatening a federal agent. Court documents say Barnaby had just returned home from the emergency room with gunshot wounds in his back from a bonfire shootout.

Clair McFarlandMay 02, 2023

Page 94