Inset: Scott Bailey (Sheridan County Sheriff's Office). Background: Sheridan County Sheriff's Office in Sheridan, Wyo. (Google Maps).
A Wyoming man allegedly threatened to spread rumors about his half-sister unless she gave him his father's cremains.
Scott Bailey, 61, was charged with two counts of blackmail after police said he threatened to "expose" his half-sister if she did not give him the cremated remains of their father, 83-year-old Albert Bailey Jr. The elder Bailey died on Aug. 14, but did not leave behind a will, according to an affidavit obtained by Wyoming-based news outlet Cowboy State Daily. The outlet reported that per Wyoming state law, a deceased person's remains automatically go to their spouse before the person's adult children.
Scott Bailey, however, was apparently unaware of this law.
According to the affidavit, after Albert Bailey died on Aug. 14, a Friday, by that weekend Scott Bailey was allegedly leaving his half-sister — whose father was also Albert Bailey — voicemails in which he said he would go to the police and tell them that she committed an "atrocious act" if she did not hand over their father's ashes.
In another voicemail to his half-sister, Scott Bailey allegedly said he would come to her house and grab someone by the throat if he did not get the ashes. An officer who heard the voicemails wrote that Scott Bailey used "very profane language" and seemed to be "extremely volatile and hostile."
When police spoke to the half-sister, she said that Al Bailey's widow, identified in his obituary as April Bailey, was in possession of the ashes, which was what he reportedly requested before he died. She said April Bailey gave her a portion of the ashes, which the half-sister had incorporated into jewelry.
The half-sister told police that Scott Bailey was lying about the purported "atrocious act."
April Bailey corroborated her stepdaughter's claim that Albert Bailey wanted his wife to keep his ashes. She told police that Scott Bailey had a volatile personality and a history of abusing alcohol.
Police said Scott Bailey came to the Sheridan Police Department with his wife and admitted that he left the voicemails. He reportedly apologized and regretted not speaking with his half-sister in person. When officers asked him about the purported act he planned to use as blackmail, Scott Bailey said it was a childhood memory that "could have been a dream."
Scott Bailey told police that the alleged threat of violence was "just a joke."
Police arrested and booked him into the Sheridan County Jail.
Scott Bailey is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 21, the deadline for prosecutors to present probable cause for the case to continue in Sheridan County's district court.