Former Northwest College student Mandy Williams came to Powell looking for reminders of her friend Berry Bryant. But what she found 25 years after Bryant’s murder was that people were forgetting.

“I just couldn’t find any trace of her. Most of the staff that I talked to didn’t know who she was,” she said. “I decided that I had to change that.”

Williams approached Shelby Wetzel, executive director of the Northwest College Foundation, about creating a permanent memorial — a bench on the mall near the clock tower — and an endowment for a scholarship in honor of Bryant.

Wetzel was eager to help. Money donated to the foundation at the time of Bryant’s murder was used to create the college’s Women’s Resource Center. She felt it was time to do more to remember Bryant.

“It was gut-wrenching for the entire community,” Wetzel said. “But this is not who we are.”

The memorial bench will be surrounded by daffodils planted Tuesday, and the first recipient of the scholarship was unveiled in a small, private ceremony.

The Berry Bryant Memorial Endowment was also created, the profits of which will provide students scholarships in perpetuity.

On Oct. 5, 1996, former Northwest College student Levi Collen, originally from Ten Sleep, abducted Bryant at a school dance. He took her to Polecat Bench and brutally raped her. Then he took her life, killing her with a knife. She was 18 years old.

The following months were a dark time for the vibrant college and the city of Powell. Collen confessed to the unthinkable acts and was found guilty of first-degree murder and rape — as well as a prior rape of another young woman from near his hometown. In the late fall of 1996, he was ordered to serve three consecutive life sentences.

Bryant’s murder left an open wound on the community — one that would remain for years.

“It was like ripping the cover off and seeing there’s evil you had no idea was there,” said Rob Koelling, who was one of
Collen’s professors at the time.

Sharon Bryant, Berry’s mother, said Collen has never shown remorse for his crimes.

Now 44, he is currently incarcerated at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington, where he’s been involved in a dog-training program.

Aftermath

Following Bryant’s death the college did everything it could to comfort students. They immediately brought in counselors from across the region for students in a state of shock. They installed emergency phones throughout campus and hired security, said Dee Havig, then the director of housing.

Havig, now the interim vice president for student services, has never been able to forget Bryant. He has been accompanying students to the Polecat Bench since her death, where they painted a simple message just east of the highway: “Berry, we miss you.” Every few years they straighten and repaint the rocks, hoping to ensure her memory will never fade. Havig remembers it like it was yesterday, he said.

Havig was out of state the night Bryant was murdered. He and his son were staying with his mother in Arizona prior to a big football game the following afternoon. Prior to everyone having a cellphone, Havig had left his mother’s number with co-workers. When the landline rang after midnight, Havig immediately knew it meant trouble.

“Back then you didn’t get too many calls in the middle of the night,” he said.

A residence hall assistant was on the other end of the line. Collen had come to the hall, changed out of bloody clothes and then was on his way back to the bench to look for his knife.

“He confessed to the students giving him a ride [that] he had killed Berry,” Havig recalled.

The housing director got home shortly after Powell police located Bryant’s body in an extremely remote area on private property. Recently, students and instructors from the school’s welding department made a memorial on the site, but the location is kept guarded — an attempt to keep it from attracting trespassers.

Scars and scabs

Despite Bryant only being a student at NWC for 30 short days, she had made the most of it; her infectious personality made her extremely popular with students and teachers.

“She was an exceptional college kid with all of the hopes and dreams that come with that,” Koelling said.

Bryant’s gregarious and friendly demeanor — the traits that drew people to her — might have been why Collen initially targeted her. He abducted Bryant at a school dance after stalking her since a spring orientation visit to the college, according to Bryant’s mother, Sharon.

Sometime earlier, Collen had remarked to another student that he was going to “get,” Bryant, Sharon said, but “the kid didn’t place any stock in it at the time.”

After Collen’s sentencing, Sharon spent a lot of time advocating for victims of violence. Recently she has become disillusioned.

“You think a scab is now scar tissue. And then something happens and that scab comes right off and now you’re bleeding again,” she said.

Very little has changed, Sharon said. “Awareness has increased, but people are still abusing each other all over this country. It’s insanity.”

A place for healing

Berry was special in many ways.

“She had a nickname for everybody. And they weren’t mean nicknames. They were nice, and they were funny,” said friend and classmate Jamey Kirkland, now vice president at Davis Funeral Home in Riverton. “She would have been something extremely wonderful to this world.”

Bryant would have been 43 now; her birthday is in March.

In tears, Kirkland said he hoped the memorial would help students and Powell residents remember Bryant.

“For 25 years, this has been the worst day to me to remember,” he said. “But [the memorial] will bring a lot of healing.”

Kirkland also cautioned students to never let down their guard, hoping the memorial helped preserve lessons learned from the day.

“This might bring a lot of life lessons for you guys later on,” he said. “I would have never ever thought I’d be here when I was your age.”

Sabrina Alvarez is the first recipient of the Berry Bryant Scholarship. She is completing her general studies at NWC before moving on to get a teaching certificate. She wants to teach music in middle school or high school. Alvarez was born after the murder, but she knew who Bryant was growing up.

“I remember hearing my family talk about her. And my cousins that are now in their 30s were very shocked by it,” she said. “I do think that [the scholarship] is something that will impact our community as a whole. I’m honored to get it.”

Also on hand at the ceremony was NWC Senate President Aubrianne Crosby of Lovell, who’s a resident assistant in the dormitories. Crosby heard of Berry during the training that all RAs undergo.

“We did a lot of training and spent a lot of time talking about responding to sexual assault and safety issues to help both girls and boys,” she said.

Havig has made sure Bryant’s story has been shared during training in responding to sexual assault and abuse. Sharon Bryant has also visited the classes to share her daughter’s story. The new memorial supplements pictures in the library honoring Bryant.

Daffodils are associated with cheerfulness and happiness. They symbolize friendship, he said.

“Daffodils also bloom for decades. They represent new beginnings,” Kirkland said. “So I believe they are the perfect flower to plant here today.”

He added that, “Berry would have loved what we’re doing.”

The bench, designed by Kirkland, will be delivered at a later date after problems in the shipping process. NWC Interim President Lisa Watson also hopes to have other improvements that make it an inviting spot.

“I think it’s about the perennials and the ongoing life they represent,” Watson said. “We wanted to carve out something that would be inviting. The idea is that you’re not sitting directly on the mall here, rather you’re nestled near the bushes and, hopefully, the daffodils will speak to you.”

Wetzel said this is a good opportunity to increase vigilance.

“No place is immune from tragedy, but [Bryant’s murder] helped empower a lot of people to do whatever they can to not let this become a constant in Powell ...,” she said.