PINEDALE—Kari DeWitt knew she was signing herself up for unpleasant times by talking with a journalist. But the 14-year Sublette County resident, office worker and mother of three, did just that, sharing words in support of Cody Roberts.
“By saying this to you, I will get death threats,” Dewitt said Thursday from a shaded picnic table outside of the public library. “I’m going to have to live with the repercussions of this through Christmas.”
Next came the words she worries will spur the harassment.
“Cody is not a psychopath,” DeWitt said. Roberts, she said, is a “good dad.”
“He did something incredibly stupid while drunk. It’s so bad. I get how bad it is,” Dewitt added. “But I almost feel like the response is as bad. Threatening to rape his daughter is as bad to me as what he did to that poor wolf.”
Roberts, a 40-something owner of a local trucking company, tormented a gravely injured wolf — an animal he allegedly struck with a snowmobile until “barely conscious” — in a way that attracted global ire.
In February 2024, he posed for photos while holding a beer alongside the wounded animal, its jaw bound with tape. Later, he brought the animal to the Green River Bar in nearby Daniel, where the tape was replaced with a muzzle and the wolf was strapped with an electronic shock collar, images from the night show. In one widely circulated image, he even leans over and kisses the wolf. Officials haven’t commented on how the wolf died, but WyoFile was told the animal was shot behind the bar. Roberts has never commented publicly on the incident.
The scorn was further inflamed by what critics see as the leniency of his punishment, a $250 discretionary fine issued by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for possessing wildlife.
But that wave of anger and outrage didn’t just slam into Roberts. It’s tough to overstate the scope of the threats and harassment that subsequently rained down on the 9,000-resident county, which is dotted by historic ranchland and economically driven by gas-drilling and tourism. It occupies a mountainous, sagebrush-strewn swath of Wyoming that’s objectively stunning.
“Our emergency management person, Jim Mitchell, went on special duty just to deal with the backlash,” DeWitt said. “Our sheriff’s office had to assign a whole person to deal with it. And then our schools went on enhanced precautions.”
“It had died down,” she added, “and that’s the hard part of this.”
DeWitt, and many others in Pinedale, worry the fury and disruption to normal life is soon to return due to a grand jury’s indictment of Roberts. The charge, of felony animal cruelty, could potentially culminate in a trial that casts another intense spotlight over the community.
Albert Sommers, a cattle rancher and former Wyoming speaker of the House, understands DeWitt’s concerns. After Roberts’ actions with the wolf became public in early 2024, he defended Roberts’ character, calling him a “decent guy,” in a WyoFile interview.
“I had calls all hours of the day and night,” Sommers recalled Thursday. “Nasty, nasty things.”
Still today, he said, “people are afraid to talk.”
But not everyone. On a Thursday walkabout along Pinedale’s main drag, Pine Street, a WyoFile reporter and photographer approached a dozen or so locals to gauge the community’s views on the advancing prosecution of Roberts. Most agreed to talk, and even put their names to their reactions, expressing a wide spectrum of feelings. Some shared a desire that the incident, which gave Sublette County a black eye, would just go away. Others were grateful for the indictment, seeing it as a step toward justice. Yet others felt conflicted.
Longtime Sublette County resident Ricky John Chamberlain took a break from a midday beer and cigarette at the Corral Bar to weigh in. Roberts, who he knew as long ago as middle school, has a history of making a public mockery of captured animals, he said.
“He’s done this before, with a coyote,” Chamberlain said. “I know this isn’t the first time that he’s done something with wildlife.”
Taking injured animals into establishments as a “novelty” to take photos of and impress friends is behavior that the Pinedale carpenter called “a bunch of shit” and “fucked up.”
“Torture an animal after you ran it over with a snow machine?” he said. “I believe in [the premise of] animal cruelty. I have a dog.”
Chamberlain’s also of the mind that the Wyoming Game and Fish and Sublette County “dropped the ball” in their initial response to the incident. In the aftermath of Roberts’ wolf stunt, he was reportedly “going around town telling people it was worth” the $250 fine. Wardens had the option of issuing steeper penalties, requiring a court appearance that could have culminated in jail time, but declined to do so.
Early on, Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr contended he didn’t even know about the episode until a month later when it blew up in the media.
But Chamberlain also wasn’t convinced that Roberts deserves jail time. And he chalked up Sublette County Prosecuting Attorney Clayton Melinkovich’s successful effort to charge the Daniel man with a felony as being politically motivated.
“I think he’s doing a little bit more for reelection,” Chamberlain said.
Incidentally, Melinkovich had answered a question about the same allegation minutes earlier outside the Sublette County Circuit Court building. Grand juries, by nature, can deflect the blowback that can come with charging controversial crimes, because it’s 12 jurists — not the prosecutor — ultimately making the decision.
Melinkovich maintains that politics — and the vociferous outcry from advocacy groups — had nothing to do with it.
“I raised my hand to do this job, and part of that job is to prosecute all crimes that occur in Sublette County,” he said. “I’ll tell you this, it wasn’t to take a target off my back. The reality of the situation is that the investigation stalled because of a lack of willingness for people to speak.”
Before the grand jury, just one eyewitness from the bar, out of 30-plus people who stopped by the Green River Bar on Feb. 29, 2024, cooperated with the investigation. Melinkovich guessed it wasn’t because they all condoned Roberts’ behavior. Rather, he speculated it was related to the avalanche of harassment and “people not wanting to be publicly doxxed,” harassed and threatened.
Nevertheless, no one would talk save for the whistleblower who reported the incident.
“That law enforcement investigation stalled,” Melinkovich said, “and the only way to keep it going was to convene the grand jury.”
Melinkovich couldn’t discuss the proceedings or evidence presented — it’s sealed and confidential under state statute — but he said publicly at the case’s one-year mark that the delays were because of forces out of his control. A third-party lab took many months to process an undisclosed piece of evidence, and just as the results came in, a heinous murder occurred within his jurisdiction: Big Piney resident Dakota Farley was shot and killed with a compound bow.
“My attention was drawn to that homicide case, understandably,” the county attorney said.
After Roberts was indicted this week, the news spread widely, with headlines even in the New York Times. In the first 24 hours, Melinkovich didn’t experience any personal blowback to his prosecution’s advancement. Just the opposite.
“I’ve heard support locally from individuals that I know and don’t know,” Melinkovich said. Emails have come in expressing gratitude from overseas, he said, and over the course of a 12-minute interview, the attorney received three supportive text messages “from around the state.”
Plenty of Pinedale residents are glad Roberts has been charged, and they aren’t afraid to say it.
“He needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent,” Bob Swanson, a local builder, said outside the Sublette County administration building. “I’m not a big animal activist, by any means. I’m just a normal guy. There’s obviously a lot of people in Daniel that thought that was OK and acceptable, and I disagree.”
The Pinedale Roundup editor Cali O’Hare, who’s faced a notably tumultuous month — her newspaper abruptly closed, then was purchased and reopened — said that she thinks the indictment is a step in the right direction for Sublette County, which has been cast in a “real negative light.”
“I think it was meaningful to a lot of Sublette County residents that this go through the proper channels, and the proper process, to confirm either his innocence or guilt,” O’Hare said from her office Thursday. “A lot of people that I’ve heard from and talked to, they really felt like all of Sublette County has had to pay the price for his actions — and then lack of accountability, and lack of remorse. They were sort of caught in the crosshairs just by virtue of also living here.”
Harassment and threats haven’t flooded Sublette County only because of out-of-state activist types. O’Hare’s dealt with it too, and been open about it. Out to lunch with fellow journalists in the wolf fiasco’s wake, she noticed a man who wouldn’t stop staring.
“Finally, he got his check,” O’Hare recalled. “He came over and he looked at me and said, ‘Eat shit, you fucking libtard.’”
The newspaper editor tracked down the man’s name. “I found that, in fact, he’s been very vocally in support of Cody,” she said.
Covering the legal proceedings in the months to come will be “super hard” for O’Hare, who isn’t looking forward to it.
“But I will say that, in light of the last two weeks … it’s a privilege for me to get to be here and continue to tell that story,” she said, noting the community’s brush with becoming a news desert.
Some residents are ready for that story to be done. Heather Bixler, a 14-year resident, bemoaned how the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office can’t post on Facebook a year-plus later — even for an innocuous event like Mother’s Day — without attracting bitter comments about Cody Roberts.
“We don’t support what he did,” Bixler said. “It’s also the time where we need to move on.”
The same heavily trolled Facebook page includes a comment, posted below a public safety message about Pine Creek flows, suggesting that Sublette County will never move on.
“Cody Roberts’ name will forever taint this county,” a faceless Facebook user posted.
Pinedale retiree Fran Korfanta, a 45-year resident, welcomed the grand jury’s indictment of Cody Roberts, and agrees that her community may never recover.
“The decision was a long time coming, but too late — there should have been more done initially,” Korfanta said along a Pine Street sidewalk. “I don’t think the blemish will ever go away for this area. It will always be there.”
cody roberts evidently has abused wildlife in the past. his clan who witnessed a crime take place in an establishment the Green River Bar should be held accountable along with the establishment allowing the torture and crime to take place this horrible event caused grave injury, suffering, torment and death. there is no excuse whatsoever. may Cody Roberts pay dearly for his crime in honor of the American wolf and I wish him a visit to Hell
this man needs to be punished along with his accomplices, I heard he once worked for the game commission also if this is true the commission needs to be investigated also
Sometimes people who witness a cruel or Barbaric act don’t speak up because they fear that a person that commits such a thing is also capable of turning on them in the same way. That is exactly why it is so important to speak up. Silence is approval.
“All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to say nothing.”
The fact that Wyoming legislators, with vehement support from the cattle and sheep industry did nothing to change Wyomings woefully inadequate animal cruelty laws and passed toothless unenforceable legislation that actually protects, in statute,the right to run over and “mash” animals (something that’s still practiced as a sport ) makes it clear that Cody Roberts actions were not a “one off”. Until this barbaric cruelty is illegal in Wyoming for all animals this issue will forever haunt this state .
I’m from north Texas. I’m glad to see Roberts will face a trial.
What he done was not very smart, too many beers, maybe, but makes no difference he was wrong. A stiff penalty will stop someone else from doing the same thing, Roberts set an example ,
now everyone else will see how costly it was. Personally, I think he has a mean streak in him, a bully. And should not kill animals with a snow machine, seems to be pretty cruel.
Sad! People make a bigger deal about this Wolf than they do about how many babies are killed every day! More money is spent caring for feral horses than for the disabled Veterans! Where is justice?
Completely irrelevant.
Abortion, feral horses, and veteran’s issues, no matter what one’s opinion is regarding them, have absolutely nothing to do with this wolf issue, no matter what one’s opinion is regarding that.
Amen! Well said. Teh guy did a stupid thing that hurt the wolf and no humans and we are going to torture him to death? Tpp bad half that energy wasn’t spent trying to reimburse the ranchers who lost a LOT of income due to that wolf.
Marion, fishermen don’t get checks every time seals or birds steal their catch.
And how do you know that this wolf, not much more than a baby, is responsible for all of the ranchers’ ills? Or just a convenient scapegoat. It’s time you people come to the 21st century.
I am glad to see that there are good people in Sublette County who are willing to stand up and stand behind the condemnation of this extremely backward act.
Nobody is torturing him, he’s merely being held accountable for doing something inhumane, and that even a lot of hunters and ranchers would not condone. It’s way over and above the norm.
“He’s done this before with a coyote”
OK, what about any other animals? Deer, elk, antelope, fox, etc.
Wolves and coyotes can trigger emotions in human beings that other animals dont. Wolves can run through a herd of sheep and kill 100+ in 1 night, kill 19 elk on another single night, hamstring a pregnant elk, moose, etc. and rip the unborn calf from its womb leaving the cow to die a slow torturous death. Coyotes often kill family pets in dogs/cats, livestock as well.
I am not condoning Roberts actions, but it can be easily known that these predators have always been seen by human beings as a menace and some would say “evil” which could draw some to a darker place when they get their hands on one.
Roberts will live with a stigma for this as long as he lives in this state.
Why seek to ruin his life further?
He’s ruined his own life by doing this. He brought it all on himself.
I’ve read about human ‘hunters’ shooting through an entire herd of elk and leaving them to rot, for a lark. Killing pregnant wildlife, family pets, other humans, pregnant and otherwise. We ‘carry on’ even more when a human dies or is harmed all the time, it makes the national news, as we can always see in the news. This act by Roberts was disgustingly inhumane, and I understand it isn’t the first time, so it can’t be blamed on ‘bad judgement’ or being drunk! It’s who he is, and he’s about to learn that it is unacceptable.
Who is the evil one, I ask you?
Would a “decent guy” run down/over a wolf with a snowmobile?
Was he drunk while he was doing this?
These excuses are troubling.
Is everyone who objects to Roberts’ behavior a “libtard”?
As a lifetime Wyoming resident, this incident makes me cringe. I suggest this man could have been an accompliss to the Matthew Shepherd murder. Not that a wolf or coyotte are as important as a human life, but this brings to light the maleovence he has and it is exacerbated by alcohol. Being drunk is no excuse for Cody Roberts as he is a very sick man and those who support him should be examined too. His actions remain unjustifiable. He should be prosecuted and serve the absolute maximum for this act of cruelty.
As a 44 year resident of Sublette County, I am not conflicted nor divided in my feelings about Cody Robert’s indictment. His actions, drunken and cruel at the time, and his lack of remorse and disgusting behavior afterwards, must result in conviction. He alone has caused serious damage to his family and his community with this tragic incident. He is responsible for all the trauma and suffering and must be held responsible for his heinous acts. His family does not deserve what he has put them through but he is the one who chose his actions. Being drunk is no excuse. When the Wyoming laws are being violated, and human decency laws are being broken, the consequences of his decisions need to be addressed to the fullest extent.
My biggest question is? If Cody has done this before with other wildlife, why isn’t the DA doing more to prevent him from doing this awful cruelty to more animals?.
There are no personal circumstances that can normalize Cody Roberts’ actions. His disdain and lack of empathy for another living creature is the stuff of psychopaths and serial killers. Society must show, in no uncertain terms, that this abhorrent behavior is wrong and will not be tolerated.
Cody Robert’s may have been the one that ran over, taped the mouth, displayed the wolf, then shot it behind the bar, but there were many cowards of his ilk that enjoyed the cruelty, then refused to provide information to investigators. This is not “frontier fun and games” that city folk shutter at, this is banal and simple cruelty by a psychopath. Anyone that would do this is a half step away from doing similar things to a human being. Felony, hell. Stiffen the laws so that the consequences deter glorification by similar meatheads. When legislators argued in support of running over wildlife as a tool in the wicker of ranchers, I decided to cease 30 years of recreating (responsibly) in your otherwise fine state. Apologies to the good caring sensible people of Wyoming.
A tiny minority may complain about the “stain” this has left—but what truly stained Sublette County was the act itself. As for death threats—many of us who speak up for wildlife have received them too: threats against our children, our pets, even our lives. We condemn them all. But the fact remains: on that day, many in the bar condoned what Cody did.
If the majority of residents disagree with what happened, then let’s stand together to ensure this atrocity never happens again. A grand jury indictment already made the message clear: this is unacceptable. Bravo to those in the article who are speaking up and refusing to stay silent—your voices matter.
And defending the indefensible by writing it off as a “stupid thing while drunk”? That’s not an excuse. If he was intoxicated for the six-plus hours during which this occurred, then that’s a DUI issue and a sign that he needs treatment, not justification. It’s also disturbing to hear people claim he’s “a good father.” I watched the video of him in the bar with the wolf, while he paraded and taunted that suffering animal. Let’s be clear: torturing an animal is not good fatherhood—it’s generational damage and the normalization of cruelty.
The solution is simple: acknowledge that torturing an animal is psychopathic behavior—always wrong, always intolerable in an evolved society. Anything less is being part of the problem.
I am a Wyoming resident and am grateful for the Grand Jury trial and indictment. That said, I do not condone threats to family, friends, or community members – that is just plain wrong and the people who make these threats are no better than the man who caused this problem in the first place. But we can’t just forget what happened in late February 2024. Justice must be done and that justice began with the Grand Jury trial. The world is watching Wyoming right now – we have to do the right thing and move forward with this case which has been such a blight upon the community of Daniel and the entire state of Wyoming.
Thank you!
A good man does not take his daughter into a bar to watch him torture a wolf pup . Being drunk is no excuse for sadism and cruelty!
An article published in April of 2024, but containing relevant points:
https://open.substack.com/pub/cailleachanam/p/a-letter-from-the-county-of-the-wolf?r=1jglh9&utm_medium=ios
Interesting commentary from Cailleach Anam.
I’ve lived long enough in Wyoming to know this land makes rough people. Folks here aren’t perfect, but they work hard, raise families, and take care of neighbors. Cody Roberts is one of those men.
Yes, what he did with that wolf was wrong. It was foolish and cruel, and he’s admitted it. But one drunken night does not erase a lifetime. The world, which never knew Cody, has turned him into a monster so it can throw stones from afar. And in doing so, it has shown its own cruelty—threatening his daughter, spitting on his neighbors, and punishing an entire community.
This case isn’t about a wolf anymore. It’s about what we become when we let outrage replace justice. Cody is no saint, but he is no monster either. He’s a man who stumbled, like all of us stumble, only his stumble was caught on camera and fed to a mob.
Real justice in Wyoming should be measured, not mob-driven. Mercy has always been the higher calling of this hard country.
Apparently, this wasn’t the first time he’s done this, so maybe it’s time to quit making excuses for this person. I refuse to call him a man, because he’s not.
How much mercy did he show to a defenseless animal?
When we organized the Hogs for Hope rally, our goal was clear: change Wyoming’s animal cruelty laws. At the time, predators and even some livestock were excluded from protections. That failure in a state so proud of its “conservative values” revealed how shallow that commitment to life really was.
We raised thousands, rode for change, and took our fight to state and federal lawmakers. I sat with Governor Gordon and Brian Nesvick of Wyoming Game & Fish. They said no one should run over animals with snowmobiles and that the Cody Roberts incident was a one-off. I see it differently — the behavior shows a culture of cruelty in that state.
Jim Magagna of the Wyoming Stock Growers openly defended killing animals with snowmobiles. He couldn’t lose one more tool in his kit for killing predators. His words, not mine. The hypocrisy makes me physically ill.
Last year at the Green River Bar, locals showed up. They shot a coyote, taped its mouth shut, and hung it from a sign. This year was different. Cody Roberts stood under a banner that read Cody Roberts Days. Fewer than a dozen people were there as the bikers rode through. The town didn’t rally behind him.
I even talked with Cody this summer. He told me someday he’d share his story. Now is his chance.
Here’s the truth: In Wyoming, killing a wolf in the predator zone isn’t a crime. But keeping one alive in captivity and torturing it is. That’s the line Cody Roberts crossed — and why he now faces a felony.
I’m proud of the people of Sublette County — and of prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich — for bringing these charges forward. Wyoming is shifting. People know cruelty when they see it.
Cody’s indictment is a step — one that came only because people refused to look away.
I for one strongly believe that Cody should get the maximum penalty under the law. What he did was disgusting, perverse, and inhumane. All for 15 minutes of fame.
You capitalize on it to this day. Pot, meet kettle.
Instead of wishing everyone would just move on, maybe Sublette Co. residents should of done something about Cody Roberts previous occurrences exploiting wildlife. If you folks had taken responsibility and self policed this known imbecile, the wolf event possibly would never of happened. But no, looks like ya’ll in Sublette Co. FAFO
Nope, not the first animal abuse/mocking/taunting situation for Roberts, the Green River Bar and Daniels, Wyoming. “PLAY stupid games, WIN stupid prizes” See you in District Court, Cody!