Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, July 25th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days! The 129th Cheyenne Frontier Days ends with a bang for Frontier Nights: Friday, July 25 we've got Cody Johnson with Randy Houser, and Saturday, July 26 , Megan Moroney with Waylon Wyatt. When the sun goes down, the stars come out. Only at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

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In October of 2023, 33-year-old Katie Ferguson vanished while traveling home to Wyoming with her on-and-off boyfriend Adam Aviles Jr., who was 26 at the time.

Now hikers and other outdoorsmen and women in Park County are asked to be on the lookout for two objects that could advance the murder investigation into the 2023 disappearance of the Cody woman. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland spoke to the Park County Sheriff, and Ferguson's mother, about how the public can help in the investigation.

"Katie Ferguson's mother, Mona Hartling, reached out to me like, there are still some objects that are believed to be out there potentially in Park County, can we let people know to keep an eye out?... a pink tote with DNA in it, which an investigator at Adam Aviles' sentencing described in much more graphic terms than that, and the front seat to a Dodge Durango… possibly charred or damaged… these are things that just the compilation of interviews and evidence indicates could still be out there somewhere, and if they are, could be opportunities for a breakthrough in the case."

Though long a suspect in what authorities believe to be Ferguson's murder, Aviles has not been charged with murder. He was, however, sentenced in September of last year to seven years and three months in prison, for the charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Read the full story HERE.

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25 years ago, legendary Wyoming spaghetti Westerner Gap Pucci befriended two nuns after they walked in sandals with no socks in knee-deep snow to see his collection of lighted crosses.

Now the nuns say they will buy Pucci's estate, promising it won't be cleared to make way for any luxury mansions. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean spoke to Mother Marie Wendy McMenamy and Sister Mary Augustine, who said their decision to buy the estate through their foundation came after months of prayer and reflection.

"Gap Pucci, he was a very religious man. He wore his faith on his sleeve, and he was a Catholic. He met McMenamy 25 years ago, much tamer story than some of his stories, like, you know, the time the horse ran him off a cliff and they plunged down into an icy river below, or the time he fought off bears. Those are the kind of stories that are in his books… just a wonderful, beautiful little friendship. And now, who knows what's going to happen here, but I bet it's going to be equally beautiful and

wonderful."

In the end, the nuns' decision came down to the sense that the world would lose something special if bulldozers came for Pucci's historic cabin and replaced it with a mansion.

Read the full story HERE.

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There's nothing like the dusty atmosphere of a summer rodeo. Historically, though, that hasn't been the atmosphere at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

As thousands of people filled the stands at Frontier Park Wednesday, Mother Nature decided to celebrate with more than an inch of rain. And Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that the last w