A Cody woman told authorities a wild story on Saturday morning — reporting that an unknown assailant had knocked her unconscious the previous night and then pushed her vehicle off a cliff with her inside.

But after an investigation, law enforcement officials came to the conclusion that Suzanne M. Cole had actually crashed the SUV herself while drunk.

Cole, 59, has been charged with misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting a crime, interfering with a peace officer and driving while under the influence of alcohol for a second time. She pleaded not guilty to all three counts at a Monday appearance in Park County Circuit Court.

Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah set Cole’s bond at $5,000 cash and she remained in jail Wednesday.

It was around 8 a.m. Saturday that a man at the Cody Archery Club range — located about 5 miles east of the city off U.S. Highway 14/16/20E — heard a woman yelling for help. The man spotted Cole and let her use his phone to contact the Park County Sheriff’s Office. She told dispatchers and responding Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Aldrete that she believed she’d been assaulted.

According to an affidavit prepared by Aldrete, Cole said she helped a couple jump start their vehicle on Friday night and then was suddenly knocked unconscious.

Cole said she came to inside her GMC Denali and found it had been driven off a cliff. The back window had been shot out and there were many footprints around the vehicle, she reportedly told the deputy.

Cole estimated that she walked for three or four hours before finding help at the archery range.

However, Deputy Aldrete quickly became suspicious of Cole’s story — in part because he “noticed the distinct smell of a flavored alcoholic beverage emanating from her person.” The deputy also learned that Cole was on probation and prohibited from drinking due to a prior DUI.

According to an affidavit composed by the officer, Cole allegedly admitted to drinking the previous night and to consuming roughly three shots of vodka after the morning’s crash. Cole reportedly said she didn’t think any alcohol was still in her system, but a portable breath test put her blood alcohol level at 0.152% — nearly double the point at which a person is considered too impaired to drive.

Further investigation cast additional doubt on her story, the affidavit indicates. For example, when Aldrete contacted the couple that Cole claimed to have helped, they told the deputy they had been at a friend’s house and hadn’t seen Cole that night.

The document indicates the crash scene didn’t match up with Cole’s account, either. For example, the vehicle’s window appeared to have been broken from hitting a “substantial sized boulder” rather than being shot out, Aldrete wrote, and there were no apparent footprints around the Denali.

The deputy said it looked like the driver had attempted to turn around on a two-track road, but instead went down the ridge, hitting multiple boulders and drops before coming to a stop.

In addition to filing the new charges, the Park County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is also seeking to revoke Cole’s probation from her prior DUI, which occurred in May 2023 in Cody. Prosecutors could seek to impose some or all of the 177 days of jail time that were originally suspended.

Darrah has tentatively slated a hearing for later this month on the probation revocation and set an October trial on the new charges.

The weekend crash occurred on property overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, and court records indicate the agency helped arrange for the Denali to be towed.