Wyoming authorities have charged a 41-year-old man with the murder of Ben Bradley, a Winter Park snowboarder who disappeared while hitchhiking through Wyoming in June 2006.
Sweetwater County sheriff’s deputies say Eric John Conn, arrested last month in St. Louis, participated in the killing of 29-year-old Bradley, who was last seen June 2, 2006, hitchhiking through Rock Springs, Wyo., with his snowboard and backpack.
Four months later, hikers found Bradley’s body at the base of a remote crag 25 miles north of Rock Springs. His pockets and wallet still had cash, but his one-of-a-kind snowboard was missing.
Last month, federal agents in St. Louis interviewed Conn, who lived in Rock Springs when Bradley disappeared. An affidavit filed in Sweetwater County Circuit Court reported that Conn confessed to joining two other unnamed men in beating Bradley in a Rock Springs home in early June 2006.
One suspect — identified in the affidavit as “co-suspect #2” — hit Bradley in the head with an ax handle. As 6-foot-3 Bradley struggled to get to his feet, “co-suspect #1” stabbed Bradley in the torso with a folding knife. Conn told the agents he kicked and punched Bradley until he was lifeless. The two suspects then dumped Bradley’s body in the desert while Conn cleaned up the blood, according to the affidavit.
Conn faces charges of first-degree murder, accessory to murder and accessory after the fact. A Rock Springs judge Tuesday ordered Conn held on $2 million bail.
“There are going to be more arrests,” said Sweetwater County sheriff’s detective Lt. Bob Mizel, who has worked the Bradley case for nearly four years.
Co-suspects and witnesses, most identified only by number, lived in and around a Rock Springs house where Bradley was allegedly murdered.
“Witness #7” told police he was at the house to buy methamphetamine in early June 2006 when he saw Bradley there.
“Later, co-suspect #1 told witness #7, ‘I killed that guy and if you say anything about it I will kill your wife,’ ” reads the affidavit.
Mizel said many of the sources, suspects and witnesses were part of a revolving drug scene in Rock Springs, making interviews difficult.
He said officials have been unable to determine a motive.
Mizel said investigators tested blood and DNA that didn’t lead anywhere. But traditional police work did.
“It was like we were standing in front of a dam throwing pebbles, and every pebble made a chip, and sooner or later, we knew we’d get a crack in the dam,” Mizel said. “We still have a lot of work to do, though.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
