Bill Lakanen & Don Simpson

On Wednesday, October 31, 1945 Deputy Game Wardens Bill Lakanen and Don Simpson went to Nugget Gulch in the Sierra Madre Mountains southwest of Rawlins to check on activity of a man who lived in this remote area. The man, John Malten had been previously convicted of illegally possessing beaver pelts and had served time in the Carbon County jail.

Although the truth of what actually happened may never be known, the evidence gathered at the scene points to the following events.

When the two game wardens arrived at Malten’s cabin, the suspect opened the door and started shooting at them without warning. Bill Lakanen was shot once in the head with a .22 caliber rifle while he was still seated behind the steering wheel of the truck. It appears Don Simpson managed to exit the truck and return fire at Malten. Game warden Simpson was shot twice in the abdomen with .22 caliber bullets. At some point, Don Simpson attempted to gain the safety of surrounding trees, but did not make it. When Malten reached the fallen officer, he found him still alive and shot him through the head with Simpson’s own .38 caliber revolver. Then Malten dragged Simpson’s body back to the truck. After Malten had removed Lakanen’s body from the truck, wood was piled around both officers’ bodies. Gas was poured over the bodies, the wood and the truck, but for some reason, they were never set afire.



This was the scene that searchers found two days later, after the two wardens failed to return home. Also, Malten’s cabin had been burned to the ground. A check of the cabin’s ashes turned up several items which indicated John Malten had been burned in the cabin fire. This fact was never fully verified however, John Malten was never seen or heard from again.