EVANSTON — The driver who police say rear-ended another vehicle on Interstate 80, causing a crash that killed two people, has been arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated homicide by vehicle, driving while under the influence and causing serious bodily injury and reckless driving.

On Sunday, July 18, Braylin Scott Wertenberger of Boulder, Colorado, slammed his GMC Sierra pickup into the back of two cars that had stopped near milepost 1 on I-80 due to another accident a half-mile further east.

The pickup Wertenberger was driving collided with a Toyota Rav-4, which was pushed into the Ford truck in front of it. Three people in the Toyota were taken by ambulance to the hospital where one, a 12-year-old Riverton boy was pronounced dead. The boy’s grandfather who was driving the Toyota and also from Riverton, later succumbed to his injuries. The teenaged brother of the 12-year-old survived but suffered many injuries and was also taken to the hospital.

Molly Wright, Wertenberger’s girlfriend and a passenger in the GMC, was taken by ambulance to Evanston Regional Hospital, where she was discovered to be pregnant and allegedly tested positive for controlled substances. She was transferred via air ambulance to a Utah hospital. Wertenberger’s foot was bleeding, so he was also taken to the local hospital.

According to an affidavit filed by Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Scott Neilson, who investigated the crash, a witness described the GMC pickup — which was three months overdue for registration — as traveling approximately 85 miles per hour as it approached the slow-moving  and stopped traffic.

Trooper Neilson, who has training and experience as a drug recognition expert instructor, was notified by another trooper at the scene that a controlled substance had been located in the pickup. Neilson was advised that multiple pipes and tinfoil containing black, burnt apparent drug residue consistent with heroin use, as well as several butane torches and lighters, had been discovered throughout the GMC. The driver, Wertenberger, had appeared “not right” in his interactions with people after the crash, according to court documents. 

Neilson asked Evanston Police Sgt. Kenny West, a fellow drug recognition expert instructor who was on the scene, to go with him to ERH to question Wertenberger. At the hospital, Neilson question Wertenberger, who couldn’t stand or walk because of his injured foot, and conducted a modified drug influence evaluation.

A “tooter” pipe was allegedly found in Wright’s bra, according to court documents, and the hospital staff turned that over to Neilson. Two additional pipes were allegedly found on Wertenberger’s person at the hospital.

After questioning Wertenberger and leaving him in the custody of EPD officers, Neilson returned to the scene of the accident and examined the GMC further, where he found what police say is more evidence of tinfoil, pipes and the use of a controlled substance. Also found were two citations from Washington for speeding and driving without a driver’s license; evidence that Wertenberger’s driver’s license had been cancelled and denied; and there was no insurance for the GMC to be found.

After receiving stitches in his foot, Wertenberger was taken to the Uinta County jail and booked. Neilson transported all evidence to the Evanston Wyoming Highway Patrol Office where it was sealed and secured in temporary evidence lockers.  Blood samples were sealed and placed in the proper fridge.

Local attorney Geoff Phillips has been appointed as public defender for Wertenberger. His case has been bound over to Third District Court, where a preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Aug. 27.