On the afternoon of August 23, 2023, 42-year-old Ashley Eugene Curtis Bartel was shot and killed outside a shared home on Teal Lane near Burns, Wyoming. He lived at the rural property with his girlfriend Rhonda Bryan and several housemates; the owner, Dannie Wilde, lived in an outbuilding. A dispute erupted that afternoon over use of Ashley’s car and keys, involving Bryan’s son, Tyler James Hill.

Deputies were dispatched at 1:23 p.m.; firefighters pronounced Ashley dead at the scene from a gunshot wound. Wilde told investigators Hill first fired a round into the ground, then witnesses described a final shot as Ashley backed up with his hands raised. Bryan said she tried to push Hill’s gun hand away and the weapon went off and struck Ashley in the face. Hill fled in Ashley’s red Mazda but was stopped and taken into custody less than an hour later.

The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office investigated the killing as a homicide. Hill, then 25, was initially recommended for second-degree murder; he was charged the following day and later bound over to district court. If anyone knew Ashley or has information about what happened at 4572 Teal Lane, please share what you know with investigators.