Two people arrested in connection with man beaten, left at Curt Gowdy State Park
Jan. 11—CHEYENNE — Two people have been arrested by the Laramie County Sheriff's Office in connection with a man who died after he was found severely wounded at Curt Gowdy State Park in August.
Stacey "Jason" Mullen, 50, was discovered by park rangers at Curt Gowdy on the morning of Aug. 20. He had apparently been beaten and left there and died from his injuries a week later.
At the time, no official arrests were made, and the investigation has persisted since then. On Thursday, LCSO Chief Deputy of Operations Aaron Veldheer told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that two people have been arrested on manslaughter charges in connection with Mullen's death.
Gizelle Kellum, 55, and Russel Perry, 54, were arrested Thursday, Veldheer told the WTE.
"It was honestly just good old-fashioned police work by getting out into the community, talking to some of our transient population and talking to the business owners," he said. "Just getting out there and talking to people.
"I wish I could give you, as a fancy thing, that we had Skynet up and we did all this. It was just dedicated police work, digging through names and records and associations."
The investigation took several months, and LCSO initially solicited information from local business owners who may have caught Mullen on video, and also asked for information from any people who may have known or interacted with him.
Staff at the COMEA House and Resource Center previously told the WTE that Mullen had been in and out of the shelter and was known to staff there. Shortly before he was found at Curt Gowdy, shelter staff had turned Mullen away because he was not sober enough to meet the sobriety requirement.
Multiple people who volunteered at the shelter also stated that they had developed a personal friendship with Mullen and had sparse information about his personal life. A volunteer at COMEA told the WTE that she had spoken to Mullen's mother, who lived on an American Indian reservation in Arizona.
Veldheer declined to comment further on the reason the two individuals were arrested in the case and said that court documents would provide more information on the investigation in near future.
Veldheer also thanked the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation's Information Analysis Team, Laramie County Fire Authority and the Wyoming State Crime Lab for each agency's assistance with the case.
Samir Knox is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice and public safety reporter. He can be reached by email at sknox@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3152. Follow him on Twitter at @bySamirKnox.
