3 of ‘Four Horsemen’ take deals in Cheyenne arson case, agree to pay $32,878

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two of four defendants have been sentenced for conspiring to set the fires that destroyed a vacant home they broke into last May. A third has pleaded guilty, and they all have an agreement for first-time offender deferrals, meaning the felony conviction won’t be entered if they complete five years of supervised probation. They also have a joint responsibility to pay $32,878 to the homeowner, according to records from the First Judicial District.

In the same hearing before Judge Catherine Rogers in December 2025, 18-year-olds Brayden Weil and Kyle Asher Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit third-degree arson, which concerns property damage over $200 and carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. Ryder Petersen, who was 18 at the time of the offense, pleaded guilty on March 26. Before the trial date was vacated in December, the prosecution said in a filing it would introduce a video from Weil’s phone “where Brayden states, ‘The Four Horsemen are back,’ and identifies his co-defendants” as the home is seen engulfed in flames.

Weil went first and laid a factual basis for the plea on Dec. 18. “Well, we were friends from high school and we all agreed to get back together after high school and hang out,” Weil told the judge. “And we were hooligans back then, so we figured we would do the same, we would act the same way that night.” A fourth defendant, Trenton Willis, was 19 at the time and went through a competency evaluation. He is scheduled for a district court arraignment on April 16 and is presumed innocent unless found or pleading guilty.

Weil told the judge that Willis had known the location of the vacant home on Ridge Road. Around midnight May 28, 2025, they hopped a fence and went inside, despite seeing the “no trespassing” signs. Weil confirmed that as the four ran away from the burning home, they played ding-dong-ditch on other homes in the area. Cheyenne police used doorbell camera footage to help crowdsource identification of the suspects. Weil denied actively setting any fires. He said Brown had tried to start one downstairs but was unsuccessful. Weil said Willis set two fires upstairs.

As Brown entered his factual basis in December, his public defender asked him questions to establish his participation in the conspiracy. Brown said he had been sleeping when his friends called him and he rode his bike to the abandoned house, and he hadn’t known about any plan to start a fire. When asked if there was a discussion among the four about possibly lighting a fire, Brown said yes. He also confirmed that investigators had recovered a video of two people hunched over a mattress trying to start a fire, and that those two people were Willis and Peterson. Brown ultimately told Judge Rogers that Willis and Weil had set the fires that totaled the home, which was valued at $147,000 by the county assessor’s office.

Court records show that Weil and Brown began their five-year probation terms at the beginning of April. Weil’s agreement specifically prohibits him from being in contact with his co-defendants “or any individuals of negative character.” He is also prohibited from being in an establishment that sells primarily alcohol. A transcript of Peterson’s March 28 hearing has not yet been uploaded to the record.