Wyoming man accused in drug death of bull rider skips jail after mother’s funeral

Wyo. man charged in bull rider death skips jail

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming man accused of supplying the heroin and cocaine that killed a young professional bull rider failed to return from a furlough a judge granted him this week to attend his mother’s funeral.

U.S. District Judge William F. Downes on Wednesday signed an arrest warrant for 44-year-old Vernon V. Ellefson Jr. of Cheyenne.

Ellefson and a group of other men are accused of supplying the drugs that killed bull rider 21-year-old Bryan John Guthrie of Cheyenne last December and a Cheyenne woman last summer.

On Monday, Downes ordered Ellefson’s release to the custody of his daughter, Victoria Ellefson. She says he refused her request to go back to jail on Wednesday.

Guthrie was the 2003 national junior bull riding champion.