Rudy Perez, a 30-year-old Hispanic/Latino man from Riverton, Wyoming, was killed on January 4, 2019, in what investigators later described as a planned break-in that turned into a double murder inside a home on the 1100 block of East Main Street. The deaths surfaced the next day when Riverton Police responded to reports of bodies in two locations—first to a deceased person in the 400 block of North Federal Boulevard, and then to two deceased people inside the East Main residence.
Police publicly stressed at the time that the North Federal case and the East Main deaths were not connected, leaving the town reeling as word spread that Perez and Jocelyn Watt had been shot inside the home.
For a long stretch, the case sat in that uneasy space where grief outpaces answers. Local updates described a community asked to remember details, to take a second look at rumors, to call in anything that might matter. The investigation was framed as ongoing, with no arrests reported for years after the shootings, and a dedicated tip line promoted as detectives tried to shake loose the kind of information that only surfaces when someone decides they can't hold it in anymore.
That break finally came when state investigators with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation developed a confession from a key witness, and the long-cold silence cracked into names, charges, and court dates. Prosecutors alleged that Brandon Donald Monroe—sixteen at the time—had gathered others, used methamphetamine, and gone to the Riverton home with robbery on the mind. The motive, as later described in court reporting, centered on stealing marijuana and money. In Monroe's own account during a change-of-plea hearing, the plan was to take “marijuana and some money,” and the break-in was for the purpose of committing a robbery; Monroe also claimed that Perez pulled a weapon, and that Monroe responded by shooting both Perez and Watt.
The case widened beyond a single defendant. Court coverage identified multiple young accomplices tied to the night: Bryce Teran was described as the driver; Korbin Headley was portrayed as present in the vehicle used to get to and from the home; and Patrick SunRhodes Jr. was alleged to have gone inside with Monroe and to have witnessed the shooting. In early proceedings, SunRhodes was described as admitting entry into the residence while Monroe was armed, staying in the living areas until gunshots, then moving toward the bedroom where the fatal shots were witnessed.
As the prosecution advanced, the outcomes split into separate tracks—pleas, bargains, and sentences shaped by differing levels of participation. Monroe ultimately pleaded guilty to two first-degree murder charges on June 22, 2023, in a deal described as carrying two concurrent life sentences, later imposed on September 14, 2023, with restitution ordered through the victims' compensation fund. Teran pleaded no contest to an aiding-and-abetting felony tied to the burglary and, after delays linked to the other defendants' cases, was sentenced on October 12, 2023, to no less than eight and no more than ten years in prison, with restitution ordered to both victims' families.
Headley's case resolved differently: the court accepted a no contest plea tied to being an accessory after the fact, and Headley was sentenced on December 15, 2022, to a three-year prison term served under supervised probation, with additional prison time suspended unless probation was violated. Months later, filings described the case being reopened after a petition alleged probation violations, including alcohol-related issues, unreported law-enforcement contact, and contact involving a victim's family member. SunRhodes, meanwhile, entered a plea deal described as no contest to an amended felony charge of aiding and abetting aggravated robbery, and on July 13, 2023, received an 18-to-20-year prison sentence with restitution ordered, along with a recommendation for a youthful offender program that could allow a future request for sentence reduction—though the judge emphasized that no reduction would be guaranteed.
