Adidas Footprint Leads to the Arrest of Casper Homicide Suspect

On Thursday, July 20, Vermont State Police arrested 36-year-old Stacey Medicinetop in connection to a homicide that occured in Casper in May.

He is being charged with second degree murder, a felony punishable by 20 years to life.

The investigation began on May 2 when police received a report about blood at the bottom of an apartment stairwell into a lower level apartment.

The door to the apartment was mostly closed, but not latched.

Officers located a deceased male--who has since been identified as Daniel Swope--face-down in a pool of blood.

There were foot prints in the blood, which showed a circle and geometric pattern, along with the words "adidas."

The man who made the report also told police that on April 27th or 28th, at about 5:00 p.m. he heard Swope yell, "no, no." Shortly after, he saw a male exit from between houses, wearing all black, with a black book bag style backpack. The subject stopped and went back down the walkway toward the rear. A few seconds later, the male came back out, heading south, entered Swope's gold Jeep, and drove away.

Swope's then-roommate told police he had last seen Swope on Saturday morning, the 29th. As he was leaving, he saw a Hispanic or Native American male with sleeve tattoos lying down in the living room underneath a blanket. The roommate claims he had never seen the man before. Later that day, the roommate was arrested. He tried to call Swope from jail, but there was no answer.

During a search of the residence, investigators found a Wyoming Department of Corrections shirt in the bathroom with the name Medicinetop and identifying number attached.

Medicinetop had been discharged from the prison on April 22 and was last known to be residing in Natrona County.

WDOC provided investigators with a list of clothing items Medicinetop had been released with, including a size 10.5 Adidas shoe. A detective conducted an internet search and found that the soles on the shoes matched the pattern found in the bloody foot print.

On May 9, investigators learned that another investigator received a voicemail from someone who said they had been in a relationship with Swope. She said that Swope's roommate brought a person identified as Stacy, a Native American male, to the residence on April 24.

She alleged that Stacy said he had just been in prison for stabbing his wife.

On July 18, a known but unnamed source told investigators that Medicinetop said he had stabbed an individual to death in Casper and taken his vehicle. Medicinetop then took the victim's vehicle and drove to the Windriver Reservation, where it was disposed of.

Medicinetop was found to be living in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, and had moved to that location within the last two months.

The Casper Police Department obtained two arrest warrants for Medicinetop and provided them to Vermont State police on July 20.

On this same day, VSP located the suspect at his place of employment and took him into custody without issue.