• Filing claims cocaine, THC, .15% BAC 6 hours after fatal crash

By Sarah Elmquist Squires
The Ranger
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

RANGER —- Court documents describe a celebration, with Jack Lackey and Elaine Whittenberger cheering their 10th wedding anniversary and the second anniversary of ownership of the Midvale Station with dinner and drinks in Dubois.

Hours later, Lackey was allegedly shirtless and drunk, stumbling along Highway 26 just outside Dubois, Whittenberger lying dead near his truck down an embankment.

Lackey is facing a charge of aggravated homicide by vehicle and 20 years in prison. And earlier this month, Whittenberger’s family filed a wrongful death suit against him with new allegations about what happened that fatal night.

The lawsuit claims Lackey had cocaine and THC in his system, and was impaired by alcohol after five or six hours of drinking on the night of August 1 and into the morning of August 2, 2024, at the time of the crash that killed his wife.

Criminal court documents and the civil suit allege his blood-alcohol concentration was nearly twice the legal limit to drive – .15% – six hours after the crash.

In Lackey’s criminal case, he’s argued that blood and urine testing at SageWest’s emergency room should not be admitted at trial; it was private medical testing, he claims. He’s also argued that the type of blood-serum analysis done at the hospital isn’t accurate, and if an alcohol swab was used before the blood draw, that could contaminate the results. 

In another motion, Lackey claims that although multiple law enforcement, EMS workers, and the doctors who treated him after the crash reported he smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated, they’d never “stated that he appeared to be ‘too intoxicated to safely operate a motor vehicle.'”

‘I might have killed my wife’

According to court documents, the couple first had dinner and drinks at the Lone Buffalo in Dubois at around 8 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2024, then went to the Rustic Pine Tavern next door and continued celebrating until sometime between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. the next morning.

Traveling on Highway 26 in Lackey’s 2003 Ford F-250, the couple reportedly made it around four miles away from the bar, then crashed near mile marker 77.7.

“Lackey was intoxicated and impaired while driving,” the civil suit alleges. “While Lackey was driving the vehicle, he left the lane of travel and struck a delineator post. In response, Lackey overcorrected and caused the vehicle to leave the highway.”

The Wyoming Highway Patrol’s fatal crash investigation concludes that the driver failed to negotiate a left-hand curve in the roadway, and that both Lackey and Whittenberger were ejected when the truck rolled. The vehicle fatally struck Whittenberg before coming to rest at a stand of trees, while Lackey suffered road rash and abrasions, court documents describe.

“Lackey left the scene of the crash, abandoning Whittenberger,” the civil suit states. “Lackey made no effort to render aid, call for emergency services, or otherwise address the injuries suffered by Whittenberger.”

Law enforcement was dispatched at 3:21 a.m. to the area after a caller reported a shirtless man “bowing down” in the middle of the roadway, and a second caller reported they had nearly struck a man walking down the middle of the highway, according to court documents. Lackey was reportedly found more than a mile from the crash scene walking eastbound – away from Dubois, near mile marker 79. Whittenberger was found deceased at the crash site at about 3:39 a.m.

Bureau of Indian Affairs Officer Chavez made contact with Lackey and wrote in his report that he had “glossy eyes, slurred speech, and the odor of alcohol on his breath,” adding that Lackey said, “I can’t believe I might have killed my wife.”

The Highway Patrol’s report pointed to that statement and other statements allegedly made by Lackey as evidence he was driving at the time of the crash. Court documents quote an email allegedly sent by Lackey on July 3, 2025, regarding auto insurance, when he reportedly wrote, “I am not eligible to provide or receive anything from the accident due to me being the driver.”

‘America’s best’

Lackey was brought to the emergency department at SageWest, where he received scans to check for major injuries, pain medication, and blood and urine samples were collected, according to court documents. He was treated and released.

More than 16 months later, Lackey was charged with aggravated homicide. Over that time, he continued to operate the Midvale Station, and even made an appearance on “America’s Best Restaurants.”

In an interview for the show, Lackey reflected on the bar/restaurant, calling it Whittenberger’s dream. 

“This is definitely a love letter to my wife,” he said of the establishment in rural Fremont County.

As those months ticked by, Whittenberger’s estate, on behalf of her daughters, were at work to claim the rural restaurant, a home in Riverton she had inherited and the contents of her bank account from Lackey – an estate estimated at more than $1 million. Days after he was arrested on the charges, he was served in jail with a written notice to “quit and surrender possession” of the Midvale Station. 

“The petitioner and her sisters had an estranged relationship with the deceased’s husband,” the filing stated.

Now, Whittenberger’s daughters, along with her parents, have filed a wrongful death suit against Lackey over her death, seeking more than $50,000 in damages. The suit lays out the beneficiaries, then adds: “Lackey may be a wrongful death beneficiary by virtue of his right to inherit, but his actions in causing the death of Whittenberger and actions prior to and subsequent to Whittenberger’s death will establish he has suffered no damages.”

Lackey’s defense

The defense initially argued unsuccessfully to exclude the blood-alcohol sample tests taken at the hospital and other evidence that Lackey was an intoxicated driver at the time of the crash.

Last month, the defense tried again, filing a motion asking the judge to exclude the blood evidence and any commentary by the SageWest emergency department staff who treated Lackey after the crash.

The motion objected to the hospital’s report, written by Dr. Mel R. Meyer, and the doctor’s comments about the blood-alcohol concentration measurements taken, stating, “… even the doctor did not know the time of the accident and had determined Mr. Lackey was amnestic and Mr. Lackey could not remember [details] due to trauma.”

“Of course, Mr. Lackey will object to all of the state’s witnesses’ comments about the smell of alcohol, admission of the fact there was a test at the hospital, the results of the test from the hospital and admission of the hospital’s report, including the emergency room doctor’s commentary,” the defense continued. They’ll also object to testimony from Frontier Ambulance staff and the results of an alcohol breath test they administered for the same reasons.

“None of the witnesses identified by the state stated that he appeared to be ‘too intoxicated to safely operate a motor vehicle,'” the defense wrote. “There are witnesses who said they smelled alcohol but there were no other tests of Mr. Lackey’s blood, breath or urine until he was treated at the emergency room.”

The blood tests at the hospital examined blood serum, while the state’s implied consent statute requires the use of whole blood, the defense argued, adding that “serum tests generally show an alcohol concentration of that is 10% to 220% higher [sic].”

That could mislead jurors, Lackey claimed in the motion. 

“Without a qualified expert to address these issues, the state should not be allowed to introduce the evidence,” the filing said.

“It is also critical to know whether the person who conducted the blood draw used an alcohol swab before puncturing Mr. Lackey’s skin to draw the blood” which could have “dramatically altered” the results of the alcohol test, the motion reads.

The motion also raises concerns about whether the “chain of custody” for Lackey’s blood sample was documented, and claims the highway patrol erred in getting a search warrant for medical records before establishing probable cause to arrest Lackey. Part of the warrant, they claim, was to help establish that Lackey was the driver that night. 

“The fact that the pickup was registered to Mr. Lackey proves nothing about who was driving the vehicle,” the defense argued.

Lackey is currently out on bond and expected to face a pre-trial hearing on Sept. 2.

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