RIVERTON, WY — Nicole Wagon has become a steady presence for families facing violent crime cases in Wyoming, often meeting them outside court, answering questions about what comes next and helping them through some of the hardest moments of their lives. She also fields frantic calls when a child disappears and shares tools such as missing-person poster templates and advice on how to work with authorities.
Her advocacy is rooted in personal loss. Wagon’s daughters, Jocelyn and Jade, were both murdered, and she says that experience changed how she sees the justice system and the people left behind after a killing. Instead of stepping back, she has leaned into helping others who are now traveling a path she knows well.
How a family tragedy became a push for victims’ advocacy
Wagon said the years after her daughters’ deaths left her with a sharper understanding of what families need when a homicide turns their lives upside down. She spent nearly two years waiting for answers in Jocelyn Wagon’s case, and she knows how exhausting that uncertainty can be when loved ones are trying to grieve and stay informed at the same time.
She described the work as more than sympathy. For Wagon, advocacy means helping people navigate the criminal justice system, understand court proceedings and know where to turn when they feel overwhelmed. She said families often arrive with fear, confusion and unanswered questions, and that the early days after a violent crime can feel disorienting without guidance.
Wagon believes those moments matter because they shape whether families feel abandoned or supported. She said the pain does not end when a suspect is arrested or when a case moves forward, especially when the process drags on for months or years.
Jocelyn Wagon’s case and the long wait for accountability
Jocelyn Wagon and her partner, Rudy Perez, were killed in January 2018 at their home in Riverton during a robbery. Two years later, Brandon Monroy was arrested, and he was later sentenced to two life prison terms. Criminal accomplices Bryce Teran, Patrick Tunhode, and Corbin Headley were also convicted in connection with the case.
Wagon said she was the only adult convicted in her daughter’s murder, and she spent years waiting for answers as the case moved through the courts. She eventually pleaded no contest to aiding and abetting burglary and was sentenced to five to 10 years, with credit for time served in jail. She said that legal path still leaves her reflecting on fairness, accountability and the complexity of the cases tied to her family.
That experience, she said, showed her how drawn-out violent crime cases can test families. Even after verdicts and sentencing, the emotions and questions do not vanish.
Advocacy work tied to missing people and courtroom support
Wagon’s work reaches beyond her own family. She helps with missing-person efforts, including the use of the Shasta Alert system for endangered missing people younger than 16 who do not qualify for Amber Alerts. She also has testified before the state legislature, national committees, task forces and law enforcement leaders about ways to improve the handling of missing-person cases.
Her efforts also connect to the Bureau of Indian Affairs office on the Wind River Reservation, where she has helped bring victim services into conversations about public safety and family support. She later joined the Wyoming VIP Task Force, which studies missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming and examines structural changes that could improve responses.
Wagon said the work matters because many families are left to figure out complicated systems on their own. She described her goal as helping people know what to do, who to call and how to keep pressure on the system when a loved one is missing or a homicide case is still unfolding.
A campaign for corrections placement and community healing
One of Wagon’s latest fights centers on her daughter Teran, who is serving time and is expected to have a bid for housing at a more relaxed Wyoming facility. Wagon said she has asked the Community Corrections Board to consider placing Teran in a community corrections setting where she could work and possibly qualify for furloughs after release.
Wagon said she cannot support that placement. She explained that her understanding of community corrections is tied to the trauma left by Jocelyn’s death and to the continuing grief within the family. Her letter to the state Department of Corrections argued that placing Teran in a community corrections program would not match the harm that was done and would ignore the perspective of the victims’ family.
Even so, Wagon said she thinks punishment alone is not enough. She said accountability has to remain part of the process, but she also believes people can change and that redemption is possible when responsibility comes first.
Why Wagon says the system needs to do better for families
Wagon has spent years speaking publicly about how violent crime affects more than the immediate courtroom outcome. She said families often carry the burden of unanswered questions, repeated hearings and the feeling that the system moves on before they do. That is especially hard, she said, when victims are young and the losses reshape an entire family.
She also said that keeping the focus on victims can be difficult when communities and media attention drift after the first wave of coverage. For that reason, Wagon often urges people to remember not only the crime itself, but the people who are still living with its aftermath.
As she continues her advocacy work, Wagon said she draws strength from her grandchildren, from her family and from the belief that helping others can give meaning to what she has endured. “Every walk, every march, every letter,” she said, is part of a healing process she hopes can help others survive the same darkness.
A message for grieving families still waiting for answers
Wagon said one of the hardest lessons from her daughters’ deaths is that families often feel isolated after a violent crime, even while the case is still active. She wants them to know they are not alone and that there are people who can help them learn the process, prepare for hearings and understand how to stay involved.
She said her own path has shown her that healing is not quick or tidy. It can come through steady work, public testimony, court appearances and simply showing up for someone else in crisis. For Wagon, that is the balance she now tries to keep: holding on to her family’s grief while using it to support others.
That message, she said, is especially important in communities where missing and murdered Indigenous people remain a painful and ongoing concern. Her hope is that no family has to face that system without guidance, persistence and someone willing to stand beside them.
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