GILLETTE (WNE) — A 29-year-old Gillette man fell off an embankment and died during a late-night walk while camping at Keyhole State Park.
The man, identified as Cameron MacNeil, was camping with his girlfriend at the Wind Creek Campground near the reservoir when the accident happened at about 2:15 a.m. July 22, according to a Wyoming State Parks report.
He was camping at the reservoir with his girlfriend, who called 911 and park rangers responded, said Nick Neylon, deputy director of Wyoming State Parks.
They found that while the couple was out for a walk, they came to the edge of a cliff, Neylon said. They were talking and MacNeil lost his footing and fell down the embankment.
The fall was about 20 feet, and there were large boulders below where the cliff met the water, which was about 2 feet deep at that point, Neylon said.
“There are a lot of big boulders down there and we surmised he hit his head and was unconscious,” Neylon said.
MacNeil died of blunt force trauma from the fall, said Crook County Coroner Micheal Frolander.
Ranger Brad Purcell responded to the fall and wrote in his report, which was released Wednesday afternoon, that MacNeil was “reportedly highly intoxicated” and “lost his footing and went down the steep embankment and off the cliff’s edge and fell the approximate 20 feet to the water.”
