On November 4, federal authorities issued misdemeanor charges against two Colorado residents for allegedly stealing historic artifacts from a roped-off area within Utah’s Canyonlands National Park this past March.The residents, identified as Roxanne McKnight, 39, and Dusty Spencer, 43, both of Pagosa Springs, allegedly entered the signed closure area around Cave Spring Cowboy Camp on March 23. According to a from the U.S. attorney’s office in Utah, the two then “handled and stole numerous historic artifacts.”
Cave Spring Cowboy Camp sits at the end of a popular, 0.6-mile hiking loop within Canyonlands National Park’s Needles District. The sandstone cavern houses a historic campsite that cowboys used during cross-country cattle drives in the early Twentieth Century. Some of the artifacts displayed there include nails, coffee cans, and bits of horse tack that are more than 100 years old.
Park officials didn’t learn of the incident until later in the spring, when rangers conducted a review of the cave’s trail-camera footage.
“The trail cam footage shows individuals clearly within the site, and the site is fenced off and signed,” Karen Henker, a public affairs specialist for Canyonlands National Park, told ϳԹ.
On May 15, the park alongside images from the footage and asked the public to help identify the man and woman in the video. One photo shows a woman sitting down on one of the artifacts. Another shows a goateed man with a beer in his hand. The request for public input worked.
“I can confirm that the identification was the result of contributions from that tip line,” Henker said.
In a , McKnight claimed she first heard of the charges when they were released online on Monday, November 4, and that they came as a surprise. She confirmed that she was in the desert in March but denied stealing or intentionally harming any artifacts.
She also said she had not been in touch with Spencer for several months. Their court case is currently set for November 27, 2024 in Salt Lake City.
ϳԹ was unable to reach Spencer for comment.
Since the initial news release and subsequent charges, the story of the alleged theft has appeared in a number of major news outlets including and . The story’s popularity is no surprise, Henker told ϳԹ. “National parks are known to preserve important stories from our country’s past, and a lot of people feel strongly about that preservation,” she said.
Artifact theft and desecration are surprisingly common in national parks. According to a , the National Park Service records hundreds of incidences of archaeological theft each year. Only about 16 percent of these cases are ever solved.
When asked how it feels to see this case get some traction, Henker emphasized that all suspects in the case are considered innocent until proven guilty.
“But we’re very grateful for the contributions and involvement from the public,” she told ϳԹ. “To us, it shows just how much the public cares about these places.”