Two Wyoming teenagers who police say stole guns then murdered a family while trying to steal a car will be held in jail without bail.
Stephen Hammer, 19, and Tanner VanPelt, 18, made their first appearance in court Tuesday after being apprehended in connection with a triple murder in Clark, a small community near the border with Montana.
Circuit Judge Bruce Waters ruled that due to the severity of the charges – 11 felonies in all, including premeditated murder, murder during a robbery and using a firearm to commit a crime – the two men would be held without bond.
In what Park County Sheriff Scott Steward deemed “nothing short of cold-blooded murder,” the men are accused of entering a home along a gravel road and fatally shooting Janos Volgyessi, 69, and wife Hildegard Volgyessi, and their 40-year-old daughter Ildiko Freitas.
According to the Cody Enterprise, the family had lived in the area near Sugarloaf Butte for six or seven years and spoke German while together. The daughter was a married nurse whose husband was away for a job.
A neighbor found two of the family members shot inside the home, the sheriff said. Deputies then found another body in the basement.
Witnesses reported that they saw two slender white males enter the home, and two cars fleeing and were able to provide a description to deputies. One of the cars, a black Audi, was recognized as Freitas’ vehicle. State troopers found the vehicles and suspects several miles from the murder scene.
The teens told police that had stolen handguns from a Cody pawn shot on Feb 26 and went to the house intending to steal the car and escape to Denver, until the robbery went awry, the Cody newspaper reported, citing an arrest affidavit filed in court.
The Associated Press contributed to this story


Typical NBC, Those poor teenagers; all they did was murder 3 people for no reason.
Boy's will be boy's.
Make way for young fresh jail meat.
It starts w/ tats & earrings. Then the little angels move on to guns.
cunical.... my reading comprehension isn't that good these days. I'm trying to find the part in the article where empathy was expressed for the boys. Could you cut and paste that part out for me?
Thanks.
if guns are locked up, then this wouldn't have happened.. and locking a door is not locking up your weapons... Gun safes and trigger locks.. all these murder happen because they took someone elses guns.
so explain how any banning of weapons would combat this ! congress you want pass something that works tell gun owners to lock up there guns and all of this will stop !
Ban handguns.
@ mike-2598123
And don't you just love the proof reading job they did here? Must be something original to Wyoming, I have never been to a Pawn Shot, we only have Pawn Shops. Curious, though, most Pawn Shops I have been do a pretty good job of locking up their guns.
I guess we better prosecute, or at least sue, the Pawn Shop owners, for not doing a better job of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. Isn't that they way the Liberals do it? Kinda like bartenders serving too many drinks to person, can't have any personal responsibility here, no siree.
Do you have kids at home? A safe is a good idea if you do, regardless, but I do not. I say a safe is a good idea because most safes are at least fire resistant, if not fire proof. It is a good place to put your irreplaceable records, and keep you guns and ammo safe from fire. (exploding ammo is a hazard to firefighters)
But here is the problem. Let's say they make it mandatory to lock up all guns (the criminals will know this). And you have kids at home. Let's say a guy breaks in, sees the safe, and proceeded to put a knife, to your kids neck, would you open the safe? Knowing you will probably die if do, or gamble you might still make it out alive, knowing those guns will be used in another crime? Or is it better to have one at the ready to defend against such an improbable attack? Or maybe, as in the case of my brother, (they tried to, but failed) the steal the entire safe?
Try again Mike.
Where were the PARENTS ?
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Wow, if these guys had been in Progressive Colorado and used the stolen handgun to commit murder......then the Cody pawn shop would also face the same charges if the Progressive legislation is signed by the Governator. Idiot alert !!!!
Harold of the Rocks: Cunical will just copy and paste that passage from his fevered imagination.
Could we have the explanation again why the death penalty is no longer an option in so many states?
Takenaka, if you hate guns so much, go back to Japan please. I will even buy the ticket!
@ Me-2196572
I have been asking the same question to all those Liberals, "If you don't like our society, the way it is, why don't you move to somewhere more suited to your likes, such as, Canada, England, or else where in Europe, where they have guns laws "that work", "Free" Universal Healthcare, Pensions and Welfare?
Why must I (we) change to fit YOUR Ideal and Ideology?" No one is making you stay here.
One thing about a free country, is, you are FREE to LEAVE when ever you want."
I do not say it is easy to pack up and leave. My question is, since there are already places on this planet that have most of what you want, why not go there instead of changing (ruining) my Ideal? Why not clamor to the Government, "We don't like it here, help us leave."? I would gladly pay higher taxes, (knowing in few short years, they will go down again, once you are gone, and your Socialist programs with you) to pay for you to leave.
"I'm trying to find the part in the article where empathy was expressed for the boys. "
First two words of the title - when they could have picked from the whole dictionary. Reading Is Fundamental has many good local programs.
What, exactly, does one say about this? The only thing I can think of is that things like this happen far too often with seemingly little to no remorse from the accused. What a world we live in.
I love the area and its people. This hits hard. I can only imagine that these young men, being impulsive, cowardly, stupid, and angry, shot these poor folks before the family even knew what was happening.
Selfish, both of them. I would not be surprised if drugs were involved.
I know exactly what to say.
Hang them on Sunday.
I'm sure their excuse will ultimately be 'we were kids on drugs and methamphetamine'. Sorry, but both 18 and over have a legal free will and their will was to use dope. What punks. They don't deserve to share the air on the planet.
So when is the hanging, I'd like to be punctual for this one.
Execution works for me.
ed:
If you can't play by the neighborhood's rules, you can't play in the neighborhood. Simple
If guilty, those stupid punks have forfeited their right to breathe the common air.
And me.
They won't be executed. But they will turn twenty-one in prison doing life without parole. No one could steer them right but Mama tried, Mama tried. Mama tried to raise them better, but her pleading was denied. That leaves only them to blame 'cos Mama tried.
Here is a recipe for this. Ingredients,, one rope,,,,,,, one tree,,,,,, combine loop of rope to neck, combine rope with tree branch,,,,, cook,(hang) till done.
Very cost effective.
Harold - I haven't heard that old song in years!
Yup, time to rev-up 'Ol Sparky.
Reminds me of "In Cold Blood" - meaningful people killed for meaningless reasons.
Crimes like this are terrible for the community. In that part of WY murders are rare and something like this is to many residents unthinkable. Unfortunately, in other places like Chicago and Detroit things like that happen much more often. Their are things that we can all do to reduce the occurrence of murders and other crimes within our communities.
Honor, courage, integrity, trustworthiness, respect, humility, empathy, compassion and love are all noble values. Values such as these will reduce violence. These values can not be legislated. No law will change the hearts of humans.
As parents, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, etc we can all be examples of these values and teach others the importance of these values. The ills of a community are the responsibility of each and every member of that community. When the members of a community take on this responsibility, great things happen.
This is a solution that will reduce murders and other crimes. It has been proven effective century after century in countless places.
That was the most pathetic weak-willed comment I've ever heard before in my life. The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun. We need more good guys with guns. More and bigger guns in the hands of law abiding citizens will make people abide by the law. There is no politeness in society without guns.
My family and I are armed to the teeth. We draw guns on each other whenever we pass in the hall. It keeps everybody in our house honest. Not one robbery or murder yet. I did shoot myself in the foot once but I'm still here making the neighborhood a safer place and keeping America free
There is a reason we live in the most violent developed country. It is our ruthless form of capitalism. Capitalism is the most efficient system we as humans have so far to develop resources and distribute wealth, but American capitalism gets down right nasty. Anything goes as long as it is within the law and if you don't like the law and you have enough money then buy a politician. Our "public servants" sit on two extreme sides both to collect money and have people busy hating each other so they are too preoccupied to see they are getting robbed blind. The corporations that pay these politicians keep merging and become "too big to prosecute/fail" sue smaller companies who try to innovate for the greater good out of existence over irrelevant claims. The corporations that now have the power drag the USA into foreign conflicts if it will make them a buck and use information control to justify it. And people observe this every second through information technology and use this as model to start treating each other in the same way because they are overloaded and desensitized. Money is worth more than lives in our American value system and violence=money. And it will only get worse as the population grows and tasks become more automated and every piece of information is kept and controlled by few who mine and analyze the data to squeeze us for more money and have us fight for the scraps.
Please tell me you are joking Eli.
Eli- I am a gun owner and carry everywhere I legally can. The way you have phrased your comment is you shooting yourself in the foot again. If you do not have the above values and teach them to others than you are nothing but a week willed ignoramus.
It is my choice to be armed. However, not everyone chooses to be armed and that is their choice. I have provided something that every member of a community can take part in weather or not they choose to be armed.
My gun dose not make me any more or less of a man. What I choose to do with my life dose.
Your inability to see the simple truth in my post makes you less of a man.
BTW- If that is what goes on in your residence than I would consider that very unsafe.
"That was the most pathetic weak-willed comment I've ever heard before in my life. The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun. We need more good guys with guns. More and bigger guns in the hands of law abiding citizens will make people abide by the law. There is no politeness in society without guns."
I would love to see if this is true in a real quantifiable situation. I say for a social experiment take a crime ridden section of a large city and distribute guns to everyone. If violent crime declines then it will prove your point, if not we will know you are wrong, either way end of debate.
zkysr- The point of my post was not about guns. It was about addressing one of the root causes of violence. However, if you insist:
March 2007
25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw, GA unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.
After the law went into effect in 1982, crime against persons plummeted 74 percent compared to 1981, and fell another 45 percent in 1983 compared to 1982.
And it has stayed impressively low.
The annual number of armed robberies, residential burglaries, commercial burglaries, and rapes have averaged, respectively, 1.69, 31.63, 19.75, and 2.00 through 1998.
That is good to know, we should expand this to a larger high density area and see if this will have the same effect. Small town could have other factors that could skew the results.
You did not research Kennesaw did you. Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta with its own regional airport. The crime rate is much lower than surrounding communities, in fact it is lower than my home town that is half the population of Kennesaw.
I am not arguing with you. If it is small enough (pop. 30,000) that most have never heard of the place than we should try it in a place like south central LA where everyone knows to prove this is not an anomaly.
I agree totally with DoWhatisright. I too am a gun owner, but the roots of these evil deeds are not the gun, but the lack of moral upbringing of these young men. I will only add that sometimes, even the best of upbringing, produces evil do'ers, but the vast majority of these problems are a lack of the proper roll models, and instilling values in our children.
I figured liberals would be in total agreement with this, after all "it takes a village to raise a child"... Actually, preferably, it takes two commited parents, occasionally you can get by with one...
Did you say "evil do'ers". hahahahahaahahaha
When will these murderers be executed? I'll volunteer to pull the trigger.
I'll bring the lemonade.
And I will bring the popcorn.
Kill them like they killed, worthless piles of @!$%#...................
Chalk up another zombie killer to the HOLLYWOOD media for the Crime Sex and Violent music and films. Great training films for little monsters.
Ahhhhhh......GUNS and our youth....
God, aren't they cool? Yeah, they got the dumb-ass earrings, the cool tats, wow...I wish I was that cool. Dumb phucks. Threw your lives away trying to be cool enough to go to Denver. Collective IQ of about 80.
You're absolutely right. Their tattoos and earrings caused this crime.
Moron.
Another 5 people wishing they had never been involved with guns. The 3 dead people and the 2 people who will spend their lives in jail. Guns may not kill people by themselves, but they sure suck when humans are involved.
How do you know these two clowns wish they had never been involved with guns? They don't look smart enough to make that complex of a deduction. If I had to guess, the only thing I believe these two ass clowns wish is that they hadn't been caught. Do you really believe that if they had entered the house with knives, and no guns, that they would have left anyone alive?
Bob in case you missed my post..
Chalk up another zombie killer to the HOLLYWOOD media for the Crime Sex and Violent music and films. Great training films for little monsters.
Tell me the media doesn't showcase GUNS
bob., #11.0,
Actually Bob, I suspect that the three victims wished they had been armed as well. The parents might have liked to have saved their daughter, even if it had cost them their own lives.
But they didn't have the proper tools...guns. But the punks did.
save the taxpayers some money....these two should be found hanging in their own cells.
If they can't be executed swiftly, then I support life in prison with no parole.
The crime was a premeditated heinous crime. Sounds like a capital murder case.
Time for some of that legendary frontier justice.
Time for some severe gun reform.
Time for you to move to a country that has your desired gun reform, say the UK that has 3 times to violent crime rate (all crimes not just gun crimes) than we do. And take Piers Morgan with you please, you two should get along quite well.
Isn't it time for your hot milk and diaper change?
#16,
Time to severely reform 'one trick pony' takenaka.
Can somebody teach that fool more than a dozen words.
It wasn't a robbery gone wrong.It was two young men too lazy to go out and earn money to buy their own automobiles.They obviously did not have parents who raised them to be upstanding citizens.The death penalty would be fitting for both of them.
Why is it obviously the parents' fault? Sometimes offspring just aren't worth a damn, no matter how carefully the parents followed the recipe..
So true, Cali Nurse. One would look at me and my three brothers and swear the youngest wasn't raised in the same house.
Oh just send a drone in and blow them to H&** with no trial no nothing after all AG Holder thinks thats Constutionally ok, no due process nothing.... Don't get me wrong I think they should swing!!!!
How must it feel to an 18 and a 19 year old to accept the fact that their life as they have known it is now over.
All gun owners are cowards
go., #20.0,
How absolutist of you.
I'm wondering what kind of dressing they prefer on their Salad's, Because they will surely get theirs Tossed in Prison.
These boys are going to have a hell of a time in jail, their bottoms are going to be sore when bubba gets to them.. may they suffer horribly in jail for the rest of their lives....
I have to wonder what makes some one think that committing murders and robbery is a good choice of career. The risk involved is high and the retirement benefits suck. As far as the young men involved, you are adult enough to commit an adult crime, you are adult enough to receive the adult punishment. These boy's chose to kill over a few guns and a car. things a few months of work could have purchased. Instead they chose the easy way. Or so they thought. They did get lucky in that they didn't run into some one with a fire arm on their person or quick access to one. They could have been the one's we are reading about being the deceased. I just hope they never get to walk the streets and breath free air again.
Both of these mental midgets are under 20 ... if both live to be 80 lets say ... God only knows how much the taxpayers will pay, to house them in prison ...... solution ? A cheap 22 bullet to the back of the head.
No Mercy,Death Penalty for both.