Two people have been charged in the death of a transient on August 18th in Sweetwater County. According to Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, the body of a 26-year-old man was found by Union Pacific railroad personnel at 2:30am on Saturday, August 19th, and it was determined the man, identified as Eric Barrett of Arkansas, had suffered fatal trauma as a result of a fall off of a train.
At 7:00am
that same morning, two individuals were reported to be trespassing on railroad property in Lincoln County and investigation determined that the two individuals had been travelling with Barrett at the time he fell from the train. The pair, 38-year-old Dennis Morley of Oregon and 29-year-old Ashley Chandler of Tennessee, were interviewed in Salt Lake City and admitted to traveling with Barrett but claimed they had fallen asleep on the train and only knew Barrett was gone when they woke up. On August 24th, investigators learned that Morley, now in Texas, contacted law enforcement and admitted to pushing Barrett from the train. Chandler, now in Arkansas, had also contacted authorities and told them that Morley had pushed Barrett from the train during an altercation. Morley was taken into custody in Texas on a charge of involuntary manslaughter and Chandler was taken into custody in Arkansas on a charge of accessory after the fact. Charges were filed against Morley and Chandler on Friday in Rock Springs Circuit Court. Arrangements are being made to extradite the pair back to Wyoming to face the charges.
