Man pleads to killing daughter

RIVERTON - A Texas man has pleaded guilty for having sex with and then strangling his 13-year-old daughter in 1985, telling a courtroom that he killed the girl so he could collect $10,000 on a life insurance policy.

Jerry Joe Bradish, 60, admitted guilt last week to first-degree murder. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault. District Judge Norman Young sentenced Bradish to life plus 18 to 20 years in prison.

Young called Bradish evil "of biblical proportions."

Bradish, 60, of New Fairview, Texas, avoided a possible death sentence by pleading guilty.

The case was revived last year when DNA from sperm recovered from the girl's body matched DNA from Bradish.

According to court documents, Bradish was living in a small camper trailer and his daughter was living in a group home in 1985. Teresa Bradish had told other residents of the group home that her father had called her earlier on the night she was killed.

Bradish told the courtroom that he took his daughter for a drive the night he killed her. He demonstrated how her choked his daughter after they had sex. He dumped the girl's nude body north of Hudson.

Sheriff honors officer in capture

ROCK SPRINGS - Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell honored 16 law enforcement officers involved in the capture of two killers who escaped from a Utah jail and led authorities on a high-speed chase days later.

Haskell presented his agency's Combat Cross to Cpl. Mike Picerno, who shot and injured one of the inmates - the only shot fired in the encounter.

Danny Gallegos and Juan Diaz-Arevalo escaped from the Daggett County (Utah) jail on Sept. 23, a breach that led the state to briefly call back many of its inmates from county jails.

The inmates had firearms and a SUV when they were captured six days later. They took the guns and vehicle from a retired police officer and tied him up in his trailer. Bill Johnson later freed himself.

Haskell gave a Distinguished Letter of Commendation to deputy Cody Ruiz, the first to spot the stolen Ford Explorer. Ruiz chased the escapees on Interstate 80 between Green River and Rock Springs.

Wyoming trooper Adam Davies, who laid down tire spikes on the highway, also was honored. Others from the Wyoming Highway Patrol and Green River and Rock Springs police departments were credited for tackling the inmates and other roles.

BLM seeks pipeline comment

RAWLINS - Bureau of Land Management officials in Colorado are seeking public feedback on a proposed connector line that would carry natural gas liquids across a portion of southern Wyoming.

The 14-inch line would run from the Piceance Basin gas fields near Meeker, Colo., to Williams Field Services' Echo Springs pump station in Carbon County.

The line, which would carry the heavier liquid fractions removed from natural gas, would cross about 45 miles of Wyoming en route to the main Overland Pass pipeline, which runs along the Interstate 80 corridor.