Following a standoff with police last week, a Cody woman is facing multiple criminal charges.

Dawn N. Blaylock is alleged to have broken into a family member’s home, stolen guns and coins and fired a revolver before barricading herself in the home’s master bathroom for hours.

Blaylock, 41, eventually gave herself up, after Cody police obtained a warrant for her arrest. She is now facing a felony count of aggravated burglary, plus misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass, property destruction, interference with a peace officer and reckless endangerment in connection with Wednesday’s incident.

As of Monday, Blaylock remained in jail, with bail set at $50,000 cash only.

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah set that sum at the request of Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Marina Tucker, who called the incident “very serious.”

“It was a four-hour standoff with over a dozen law enforcement officers from multiple agencies present,” Tucker said at a Friday hearing, also noting that police had to issue a shelter-in-place order for the neighborhood.

The prosecutor argued that “there is clearly a danger to the community in general.”

However, Blaylock disputed that.

“I don’t believe that I’m a threat to society,” she said, adding, “I really just want to get my life back on track, and I’d like to be able to do that; I can’t do that when I’m behind bars.”

Blaylock also asserts that the home she allegedly broke into on Meadow Lane Avenue is her residence. 

According to court records, the home and assets inside it are owned by a trust set up by her late grandmother. A signed and notarized document shows Blaylock’s uncle was placed in charge of the trust, but Blaylock apparently disputes that.

Following her Wednesday arrest, Blaylock claimed she “was the rightful owner to the house and its contents based on a trust document which she claims was an original,” Cody Police Det. Tyler Eubanks wrote in an affidavit. However, Blaylock “did not have a copy of this ‘original’ trust document and did not know if one could be found,” the detective wrote.

Speaking in court on Friday, Blaylock called it “my home of 20-plus years, maybe longer. So I was under the impression that an accidental discha …”

Judge Darrah then cut in to warn Blaylock that it probably wasn’t in her best interest to speak about what did or didn’t happen, “because even the most innocuous thing can be taken out of context and used against you.

“This is serious,” he said.

The start of a standoff

Charging documents composed by Cody police detectives indicate that the situation developed over a period of weeks before culminating in Wednesday’s standoff.

On June 5, Blaylock’s uncle told police that she had been selling and
pawning coins and firearms from the Meadow Lane residence without permission; Blaylock was reportedly trespassed from the home on June 10.

However, around 12:30 p.m. on June 24, Blaylock’s uncle reportedly spotted her outside the residence, loading items into her Chevy pickup. Police say they later found multiple items in the truck that had been taken from the home, including a Winchester shotgun, a 1911 handgun frame, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and over 71 pounds of coins.

Blaylock’s uncle had contacted police after she reportedly went into the home and refused to come out.

Responding officers determined Blaylock initially got in by breaking out a back window and apparently removed a “NO TRESPASSING” sign from a front window, charging documents say.

Officers also noticed a bullet casing in the driveway, “leading us to believe ammunition had been discharged,” Eubanks wrote.

Police found Blaylock had barricaded herself inside the master bathroom. She reportedly relayed that she was armed — a fact officers verified with a remote camera — and wasn’t going to come out.

Charging documents say Blaylock’s weapon was a Smith & Wesson revolver she’d found and fired in the home’s garage. When police seized the weapon at the end of the standoff, they found it was loaded, with two spent cartridges in the cylinder.

Hours of negotiations

The police department issued a statement at 1:20 p.m. asking community members to avoid the area; they also asked the neighbors to stay inside while negotiations were underway.

With Blaylock being the only one in the home and no injuries reported, “we’re just going to give it plenty of time, to let it resolve,” Cody Police Lt. Juston Wead told the Tribune around 2:15 p.m.

Tucker, the prosecutor, indicated that at some point, police arranged for the home’s utilities to be shut off.

Around 3 p.m., Blaylock said she would peacefully give herself up if the officers obtained a warrant for her arrest, Det. Scott Burlingame wrote in an affidavit. Just before 4 p.m., Tucker charged Blaylock with three misdemeanor counts — criminal trespass, property destruction and interference with a peace officer — and Judge Darrah issued a warrant about 15 minutes later. (Those charges were later dismissed in favor of the new, more serious ones.)

Blaylock voluntarily surrendered without further incident and was arrested just before 5 p.m., according to police and jail records.

“We appreciate the patience and cooperation of the community throughout this incident, as well as the professionalism of the responding officers and assisting agencies whose coordinated efforts resulted in a safe resolution,” Cody police said in an update issued around 5:20 p.m.

Alcohol and drugs?

In a post-arrest interview with police, Blaylock indicated she had drank alcohol and smoked “a bowl” — which Eubanks took to mean marijuana — before going to the house on Wednesday.

When asked if she’d used meth, Blaylock reportedly responded that she didn’t want to answer the question at that time.

“I want to tell you everything that I know and I want to help you every step of the way but I don’t want it to screw me so much that I can’t ever get out of here to see my kids again,” Blaylock reportedly said.

Speaking in court on Friday, Tucker said that Blaylock is currently “under investigation for allowing minor children in a location where methamphetamine is stored.”

However, Blaylock said in court that she’d abstained from all drugs and alcohol for over 11 years.

“I was unaware that I was … under investigation for methamphetamine use with a child in my home,” she said, “so that’s news to me.”

A preliminary hearing in the aggravated burglary case is tentatively set for Monday, July 6.