News briefs from around the state

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers

Fifth shooting victim dies

CODY (WNE) — Olivia Blackmer, 7, the sole survivor of the February 10 murder-suicide carried out by her mother that left her three sisters and mother dead, died Saturday.

According to a Gofundme page organized for Olivia’s father and step-mother, Olivia was life-flighted to a neurology department in Salt Lake City after the events of February 10. She received extensive treatment over the course of multiple days in an attempt to save her life.

However, Olivia succumbed to her injuries at 3:44 p.m. on Saturday, according to an update posted by Katelynn Blackmer, Olivia’s step-mother, to the Gofundme page.

“Her body and brain had been through too much, medication helped but we reached a point where medical options were exhausted and her body only continued to get worse,” Blackmer said in the posted update. “We want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and support for our family.”

The incident began on February 10 when first responders were dispatched to the 200 block of East Shoshone Street in Byron after receiving a call from Tranyelle Harshman. She told dispatch that her four children had been shot, before hanging up and shooting herself, according to a statement by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.

When officers arrived, they found the four girls aged 2-9 and their mother had all sustained gunshot wounds to the head. Two of the children were already dead when law enforcement entered the residence.

Harshman, 7 year-old Olivia, and one of the 2 year-old girls still showed signs of life. The 2 year-old girl died on scene shortly after first responders arrived and Harshman would pass away in the hospital the following afternoon.

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Former Smith’s employee sentenced for stealing thousands of dollars from store’s self-checkout machines

GILLETTE (WNE) — The woman who pleaded guilty to stealing from Smith’s while she worked there will avoid prison time for now, but she must pay back tens of thousands of dollars in restitution.

Katheryn Cranmer, 39, was sentenced Feb. 3 for felony theft, to which she pleaded guilty on Nov. 18.

District Judge Stuart S. Healy III sentenced Cranmer to three to five years in prison, suspended for five years of supervised probation.

Cranmer also must pay $56,609 in restitution to the Smith’s corporate office.

On July 11, Smith’s reported that Cranmer had stolen $43,000 over the past six months while she was a manager at the store.

Another manager told police that Smith’s loss prevention staff had an open investigation due to the store “coming up short in the drawer” for multiple months in a row. One of these employees said the investigation began in March, and it was determined that the shortages started in January.

From watching video footage and looking at logs, employees identified Cranmer as the suspect. She was a manager at the store and had access to multiple financial tools in the store, including a loan machine that requires fingerprint access, according to court documents.

Loss prevention staff estimated that Cranmer stole $43,000 from January to June. When she was confronted about this, she admitted to taking $5,800, but was adamant that she didn’t take $43,000.

She agreed to speak with police, and said that, since January, she was tasked with refilling the self-checkout kiosks with cash once a month. She used the loan machine to withdraw cash for the kiosks, according to the affidavit.

She started taking no more than $100 on top of what cash was required to refill the kiosks. She admitted to doing this until June, and believed she had stolen $5,800 this way.