CASPER, Wyo. — Family members of Daniel Robert Swope told the Natrona County District Court on Monday that Stacy Roberts Medicinetop, who murdered Swope in Casper last year, stole their futures.

“It will haunt them for the rest of their lives,” Swope’s brother Aaron said at Medicinetop’s sentencing.

District Court Judge Joshua Eames handed down the sentence to Medicinetop: 40–50 years’ imprisonment for second-degree murder and nine to 10 years’ imprisonment for grand theft, with both sentences to be served concurrently.

The sentence included 431 days’ credit for time already served, as well as court fees, fines and $7,248 in restitution to the victim services fund, Eames said, adding that mitigating factors included a difficult childhood and taking responsibility because of his guilty plea on May 24.

In his final comments to Medicinetop, Eames called murder a “generational crime” because of what it takes from a family.

Eames accepted the May 24, 2024, plea agreement with those terms from Medicinetop, public defender Dylan Rosalez and the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office.

During the plea, Medicinetop told the court he and Swope got into a fight. “In the middle of the fight, I pulled my knife out and stabbed him. He ended up dying.”

Medicinetop said he then panicked and snatched the keys to Swope’s Jeep, which he abandoned on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The plea agreement allows Medicinetop to serve the nine to 10 years for grand theft while serving the second-degree murder sentence.

The case started on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, when a man called police after seeing dried blood in the back stairwell of a split-level residence on the 700 block of East 3rd Street. Police found Swope, the downstairs neighbor, in a pool of dried blood with at least three knife wounds to his torso and neck, according to the Casper Police Department’s affidavit.

Prosecutor Blaine Nelson said in court that it appeared Medicinetop had been Swope’s house guest.

Medicinetop remained at large for over two months until he was found to be living in Vermont and was arrested at his job by the state’s police on July 20.

On Monday, Rosalez handed a letter to Eames from a friend of Medicinetop.

Medicinetop recounted his recollection of the crime during the hearing and said he had been recently released from prison, had relapsed with his addiction and was intoxicated at the time. He said he and Swope were fighting, his memory went blurry and then he saw Swope on the ground.

“I reacted because I believed I was in danger,” he said. “I should not be drinking regardless of what was going on in my life.”

Swope was 48, a father of four who cooked a lot and was pursuing a career in real estate, according to his obituary.

During the sentencing hearing, one of Swope’s daughters said, “We may not ever get peace,” adding she prays Medicinetop will think about what he did not only to her father but to her entire family.

Aaron Swope recounted the day he heard about the murder, he wrote in a letter that was read by a woman. They traded reading it because they would cry to the point that they couldn’t read it and passed it each other.

He wrote that he heard about the killing while he was at work and told a relative about it in person. “She wailed like nothing I ever heard before,” he said.

The two went to the school where Swope’s children were and wanted to tell them before they heard about it from others, he said. The principal was waiting for them because he had already heard about it, and he told the children what had happened.

After picking up the children, they went to his house, told them to stand around him in a circle, and told them that their father was dead. “It was the worst thing I’d ever seen,” Aaron said.

One of Swope’s sons reacted in pain immediately. Another son didn’t react until two weeks later, when he told Aaron he had been robbed, Aaron said.

All the children told the brother that they believed the killing was their fault because they should have been better children for him.

Regarding one of the daughters, Aaron said, “That’s an insane amount of guilt for a 14-year-old.” The first loves, graduations, weddings and children will happen, but will all occur without a father there, he said.

“He was my brother and my best friend and I miss him every day,” he added.

Oil City News LLC is a nonpartisan media organization and Central Wyoming’s largest locally owned, independent news platform. The mission of Oil City’s award-winning team of Casper-based journalists is to build a more informed and connected community by producing local stories first, fast and forever free. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

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