Michael J. Hickey: The Bridger Valley Killer
Overview
Michael "Mike" Jack Hickey is a Wyoming man responsible for four brutal murders in the mid-1970s, acting first as an accomplice in a revenge plot and later as a hitman for the notorious Wyoming crime boss Mark Hopkinson. In 1976, Hickey murdered a 15-year-old girl to silence her for reporting a friend to the police. Just over a year later, he planted a powerful dynamite bomb that destroyed the home of an Evanston attorney, killing the man, his wife, and their teenage son.
For years, the crimes remained officially unsolved, their truths buried under a complex web of lies and intimidation orchestrated by Hopkinson. The entire violent conspiracy unraveled only after Hickey, fearing for his own life, confessed to a grand jury in May 1979. In a landmark plea deal, Hickey agreed to testify against Hopkinson in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence for one of the murders and immunity for the other three. His testimony was the key to convicting Hopkinson, who was ultimately executed. Hickey served his sentence under the federal witness protection program, was released in 1999, and returned to a quiet life in his hometown.
Early Life and Background
Michael Jack Hickey was born around 1954 and grew up in Lonetree, a small ranching community in Wyoming's Bridger Valley. His family was well-established and respected in the area. In the mid-1970s, Hickey, then a young man described as a severe alcoholic, fell into the orbit of Mark Hopkinson.
Hopkinson had returned to Bridger Valley in 1975 after a football scholarship was cut short by injury and he had served time in federal prison for a drug conviction. Charismatic, intelligent, and deeply manipulative, Hopkinson quickly became a dominant and feared figure. He embroiled himself in a series of aggressive legal and financial disputes, drawing younger, impressionable men like Hickey and another local, Jeff Green, into his criminal activities. Hickey's association with Hopkinson would prove to be a fateful one, leading him down a path of extreme violence.
The Murder of Kellie Wyckhuyse
The first murder occurred in the summer of 1976. A friend of Hickey's, Jamey Hysell, had been arrested for marijuana possession after 15-year-old Kellie Marie Wyckhuyse gave a statement to police. Enraged, Hysell wanted revenge and plotted with Hickey to kill the girl.
On the evening of June 27, 1976, Hickey picked Kellie up and drove her to a remote, isolated location in Uinta County. He told her they were going to kill her. Hysell was supposed to meet them, but when he failed to arrive, Hickey acted alone. He bludgeoned Kellie on the head with a rock, killing her. In a particularly gruesome act, described in court testimony, Hickey then mutilated her body, cutting out her genitals to show Hysell as proof that the murder had been carried out. He buried her body in a shallow grave.
The crime went unsolved for months. The break came when Hysell, questioned by police about a series of larcenies, tried to use his knowledge of the murder as leverage. Since Hickey had shown him where the body was, Hysell was able to lead investigators to the grave. Hickey was subsequently tracked down in California and questioned, but he denied everything. Upon his return to Wyoming, he was charged with the murder.
Mark Hopkinson, demonstrating his manipulative power, concocted a plan to save Hickey. He instructed Hickey, Jeff Green, and himself to provide false stories that would frame Hysell for the murder. The scheme worked; charges against Hickey were dropped, and Hysell was indicted for Kellie's murder instead.
The Vehar Family Bombing
By 1977, Mark Hopkinson was entangled in a bitter and escalating feud with the Fort Bridger Sewer and Water Board over thousands of dollars in unpaid fees for his family's trailer court project. The board's legal counsel was Vincent Vehar, a respected Evanston attorney. Hopkinson developed a deep-seated hatred for Vehar and was scheduled to be deposed by him on August 9, 1977. Determined to prevent this testimony at all costs, Hopkinson decided Vehar had to be eliminated.
Hopkinson had learned of Hickey's role in the Wyckhuyse murder and used that knowledge as leverage. He promised Hickey $2,000 plus expenses, and more importantly, his help in permanently covering up the earlier crime, if Hickey would kill Vehar. After considering several methods, Hopkinson settled on a plan: Hickey would bomb the Vehar family home.
On Saturday, August 6, 1977, Hopkinson ordered Hickey to carry out the attack that night. Hickey spent the evening and early morning hours drinking heavily at a local bar. At around 2:30 a.m. on August 7, he retrieved his vehicle and drove towards Evanston. He was spotted by a highway patrolman at 2:45 a.m. about 30 miles from the town. After arriving in Evanston, he surveilled the Vehar residence. When he felt it was safe, he lit the fuse on a powerful dynamite bomb and threw it through a basement window.
At approximately 3:35 a.m., the bomb detonated, and the house exploded violently. The blast instantly killed 67-year-old Vincent Vehar, his wife Beverly, and their 18-year-old son, John, as they slept. A second son, Tony, who was in the basement, was severely injured but survived the explosion. Hickey fled the scene, even picking up a hitchhiker on his way back to Bridger Valley. In the aftermath, Hopkinson instructed Hickey to keep his distance, and Hickey was never paid the promised $2,000.
The Victims
- Kellie Marie Wyckhuyse, 15 — Murdered on June 27, 1976, in rural Uinta County. A high school student, she was brutally killed as retaliation for reporting a minor drug crime to the police.
- Vincent Vehar, 67 — Died on August 7, 1977, in Evanston, Wyoming. He was a long-serving former county attorney and a respected lawyer representing a local water board in a contentious lawsuit against Mark Hopkinson.
- Beverly Vehar, age unknown — Died on August 7, 1977, in Evanston, Wyoming. She was killed in her sleep alongside her husband and youngest son when their home was destroyed by a bomb.
- John Vehar, 18 — Died on August 7, 1977, in Evanston, Wyoming. The youngest son of Vincent and Beverly Vehar, he was killed just before he was to begin his life as an adult.
Investigation and Capture
For nearly two years, both the Wyckhuyse murder and the Vehar bombing remained unsolved mysteries, shielded by Hopkinson's campaign of lies. The conspiracy began to crumble in July 1978 during Jamey Hysell's trial for Kellie Wyckhuyse's murder. Jeff Green, another of Hopkinson's young associates, had a crisis of conscience. Fearing Hysell might receive the death penalty for a crime he didn't commit, Green confessed to authorities that his previous statements were lies. He told them the truth: Michael Hickey was the real killer. Green also told investigators he believed Hopkinson was behind the Vehar bombing. Green's testimony led to the dismissal of all charges against Hysell.
Hopkinson, who was by then serving a sentence in a federal prison in Lompoc, California, for an unrelated conspiracy to bomb a car in Arizona, learned of Green's betrayal. He saw Green as a critical witness who could connect him to the Vehar murders and bring down his entire criminal enterprise. From his prison cell, using unlimited telephone access, Hopkinson arranged to have Green murdered.
On May 18, 1979, just days before a grand jury was to convene to hear testimony about the Vehar bombing, Jeff Green's brutally tortured body was discovered. He had been burned over 140 times and shot. The message was clear: silence would be enforced by death.
The gruesome murder of the star witness terrified Michael Hickey. When he was subpoenaed to testify before the Uinta County grand jury in late May 1979, he broke down completely. On the stand, he confessed everything—admitting he had killed Kellie Wyckhuyse at Hysell's behest and that he had bombed the Vehar home on the direct orders of Mark Hopkinson.
Trial and Sentence
With Hickey's confession, prosecutors finally had the insider witness they needed to convict Mark Hopkinson. Special prosecutor Gerry Spence offered Hickey a plea bargain. In exchange for his complete and truthful testimony against Hopkinson, Hickey would plead guilty to the second-degree murder of Kellie Wyckhuyse. In return, the state of Wyoming granted him total immunity from prosecution for the three murders in the Vehar bombing.
Hickey accepted the deal. He was sentenced to 20 years in a Wyoming state prison for the Wyckhuyse murder. He also received a concurrent 20-year federal sentence for the federal crime of maiming Tony Vehar, the surviving son. Because of the clear and present danger posed by Hopkinson and his associates, Hickey was placed into the federal witness protection program and served his time under a different name in an undisclosed federal prison.
Hickey's testimony was the centerpiece of the state's case against Mark Hopkinson. The trial began on September 3, 1979. Based largely on Hickey's account, the jury found Hopkinson guilty on six counts, including ordering the three Vehar murders and the murder of Jeff Green. The jury recommended life imprisonment for the Vehar killings but sentenced Hopkinson to death for ordering Green's murder from behind bars. After years of appeals, Mark Hopkinson was executed by lethal injection on January 22, 1992, the last person to be executed by the state of Wyoming.
Aftermath and Legacy
Michael Hickey was released from prison in 1999, having served nearly two decades. He returned to his family's ranch in Lonetree, Wyoming. In the years that followed, he has lived an exceptionally quiet and private life. According to a 2011 news report, he married, raised a family, and was accepted back into the Mormon church after his release. He has consistently refused to speak publicly about the crimes or his past.
The Hopkinson-Hickey case remains one of the most complex, sensational, and violent criminal sagas in Wyoming history. It exposed a web of corruption and murder-for-hire orchestrated by a man prosecutors described as a "Manson in pinstripes." While Mark Hopkinson was the undisputed mastermind, his deadly plans were only realized through the actions of Michael Hickey, the young man who fell under his influence and became the hand that carried out four brutal killings. The sole survivor of the bombing, Tony Vehar, went on to become an attorney like his father; he passed away in 2015.
