Authorities say man killed cow before poaching nine deer

by CJ Baker Powell Tribune,

Via Wyoming News Exchange

A young Michigan man who allegedly poached nine mule deer in Cody over the summer is now facing more legal trouble, as investigators say they’ve also tied him to the killing of a cow last year.

Twenty-year-old Josh Wielhouwer was already facing 18 misdemeanor counts in connection with deer that were killed and left to waste in Cody in August and early September.

Last week, prosecutors added a felony count of property destruction for a cow that was killed north of the city in 2023. Like the deer, the domestic animal was apparently slain with some kind of bow and arrow, charging documents say.

Wielhouwer has been held in the Park County Detention Center since early September, unable to post a $36,000 cash bond.

Following the new allegations, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah upped that bail on Friday. He ruled that Wielhouwer must post a $7,500 cash or surety bond on top of the $36,000 if he wants to go free while the cases are pending.

“I do take into account that the defendant had previously turned himself in, but now we have a felony charge,” Darrah said. “It’s a whole different ball game.”

An unnatural death

The cow in question was found dead at a ranch on Rattlesnake Mountain on Sept. 13, 2023. Mooncrest Ranch personnel initially contacted the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, believing the animal might have been killed by predators, charging documents say. However, a responding game warden instead “found holes in the carcass that appeared to be from an arrowhead.”

An affidavit submitted by Park County Sheriff’s Investigator Clayton Creel says the cow appeared to have been shot twice in the stomach; the animal made it about 300 yards before dying.

A ranch employee estimated the cow was worth anywhere between $2,500 and $2,800, which is above the felony threshold of $1,000.

The employee provided descriptions of the vehicles he’d seen along Monument Hill Road that day, but the case went cold until this summer’s killing spree in Cody.

Dead deer in Cody

Starting on Aug. 27 and continuing through Sept. 3, eight deer — does, bucks and a fawn — turned up dead on the grounds of the Park County Complex and in the surrounding Cody neighborhoods.

Game wardens gathered security footage from surrounding businesses and residences, and concluded that their suspect was driving a silver sedan and bow hunting at night.

Then, while patrolling the area around the complex on the night of Sept. 4, game wardens Spencer Carstens and Grant Gerharter allegedly caught their man redhanded. In an affidavit, Carstens said they heard what sounded like an arrow being fired. They spotted a young man holding a compound bow and shining a light on the ground near the carcass of another dead mule deer doe.

The man escaped, but parked nearby, the wardens found the silver sedan they’d spotted on the surveillance footage; inside, they spotted an arrow that matched one found near one of the dead deer.

Meanwhile, Carstens was told by the vehicle’s owner that Wielhouwer had been driving it, and the owner’s description of Wielhouwer matched the young man the wardens caught sight of at the complex.

Multiple charges filed

Prosecutors obtained a warrant for Wielhouwer’s arrest on Sept. 6, filing nine counts of taking a game animal without a hunting license and nine of wanton destruction of a big game animal. He turned himself in three days later.

At his initial hearing in Park County Circuit Court, Wielhouwer pleaded not guilty, and Darrah set bond at $36,000 to match the restitution he could potentially be ordered to pay for the dead deer.

Meanwhile, authorities continued investigating — including taking another look at the cow killing from a year earlier. Charging documents say a broadhead, or arrow tip, that was found in Wielhouwer’s vehicle appeared to match a bloody one recovered from the Mooncrest Ranch.

Additionally, a search of Wielhouwer’s iPhone turned up five photos that appeared to have been taken “near where the deceased was found” on Sept. 12, 2023 — the day before the carcass was discovered, Investigator Creel wrote in his affidavit.

A hunter who had been in the area of Monument Hill Road that day reportedly told authorities that he recalled seeing a silver Honda car with Michigan plates. Wielhouwer, who lives in Jenison, Michigan, owns a silver Honda and authorities say they know that he and his vehicle were in northwest Wyoming around that time.

Put together, the new evidence prompted the Park County Attorney’s Office to file the felony count tied to the dead cow on Thursday.

A flight risk?

After allegedly eluding the game wardens on the night of Sept. 4, Wielhouwer returned to Michigan.

Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele has said the suspect at one point posted, “Catch me if you can” on Facebook — and he said Friday that Wielhouwer sent “several text messages to his friends indicating that he was considering fleeing the country.”

Wielhouwer’s defense attorney, however, emphasized that his client ultimately returned to Cody voluntarily on Sept. 9.

After learning the Game and Fish Department was pursuing charges and speaking with his attorney, Wielhouwer “jumped on a plane the very next day, flew back to Park County and turned himself in,” his attorney Tim Blatt said.

Whatever Wielhouwer might have said to friends about fleeing the country, “obviously that is not very realistic for an individual of his age,” Blatt said, suggesting his client was scared.

For his part, Eichele said it remained “quite concerning” that Wielhouwer considered going on the run. The prosecutor asked Darrah to tack another $5,000 cash bond onto the $36,000 already in place while Blatt contended $36,000 was sufficient to cover both cases.

Citing some concern about the texts, the judge opted to add the $7,500 cash or surety bond. It requires Wielhouwer to either post that cash or hire a bondsman for roughly $750.

Bond conditions

If he does post the two bonds, Wielhouwer will have to follow a series of conditions, including relinquishing any firearms, bows, arrows or broadheads. Darrah initially said the defendant would have to turn those items over to law enforcement if he makes bail, but at Blatt’s request, the judge allowed Wielhouwer to instead provide those items to his defense attorney.

“I am concerned … that order potentially would be asking him to turn over [to law enforcement] what could be evidence used against him,” Blatt said, and Darrah said the point was well taken.

A preliminary hearing on the new felony property destruction charge is tentatively set for Nov. 19 while a trial on the 18 misdemeanors is slated for early February.