The public file describes shell casings, surveillance footage, wound patterns and family statements, but leaves major questions about motive and exact timing unresolved.
RIVERTON, Wyo. — The case against Sterling Louis Black Jr. has reached district court on a second-degree murder charge, with prosecutors relying on a tightly drawn record of surveillance video, gun evidence and witness statements from the March 7 death of Angelina Rose Bell at the Ol’ Wyoming Motel.
That early record matters because police released little public detail at first, saying only that officers had found a deceased woman in a hotel room, suspected foul play and later identified and charged a Riverton man. The affidavit that followed filled in the scene piece by piece. It offered a timeline, described the wound pattern and set out why detectives concluded Bell’s death was a homicide. It also showed where the file remains incomplete, including the exact moment the shot was fired and a clearer public account of where the weapon was recovered.
The timeline begins late on March 6 and runs into the first hours of March 7. Surveillance video cited by Detective Peter McCall showed Black, Bell and their young daughter arriving at the room around 11 p.m. Friday. The same video then showed Black leaving at 2:41 a.m., returning at an unknown time and leaving again around 5:21 a.m. Motel employees separately told officers he left about 5:15 a.m., and investigators later reviewed video they said confirmed his departure. What happened inside the room between those movements is not fully described in the public file. What is clear is that officers were called at about 7 a.m. after a caller reported that a child had found her mother and could see blood.
When officers entered the room, they found Bell on the bathroom floor with blood pooled under her head. Brookover reported no signs of life. In the toilet bowl, officers located a spent shell casing later identified as 9 mm. McCall then found a plastic case for a SAR 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, along with two empty magazines, but no firearm inside the case. On the floor near the vanity, investigators found a fired bullet believed to have caused the wound. The affidavit says Bell had what appeared to be an entry wound near the bridge of her nose by her right eye. There was no exit wound, meaning the projectile stayed in the room and could be recovered as part of the scene evidence.
McCall’s description of the wound is one of the affidavit’s most detailed passages. He wrote that Bell’s face showed stippling across the nose, forehead, right cheek and both eye areas. He said the pattern, along with the lack of heavy gas burns or tearing, indicated the muzzle was not pressed to the skin. Instead, he estimated the weapon had been fired from several inches to roughly 2 feet away. That observation gave investigators a basis to rule out at least one common form of self-inflicted contact gunshot wound. The public file does not mention autopsy findings beyond the coroner’s arrival at the scene, and no later report reviewed here added toxicology, trajectory analysis or lab testing results.
The rest of the affidavit works to connect the physical evidence to the people in the room. Motel staff identified Black as the registered tenant and said he had rented the room since Feb. 12. A black 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander registered to him was parked outside, though police said they did not find keys in the room. The child who was present told officers, “Momma’s in my bathroom,” then later said “Daddy went for a walk,” “Mommy has blood on her,” “Daddy was mad at Mommy,” and “Mommy’s dead,” according to the affidavit. Neighbors, however, reportedly said they did not hear either arguing or a gunshot. That makes the surveillance video and the bathroom evidence more important, because the public record does not include a heard confession, a reported eyewitness account from an adult or a known time stamp for the gunshot itself.
Investigators also used history evidence to support the charge. McCall said multiple relatives gave matching statements describing abuse in the relationship beginning in late December or early January. Bell had told family members Black hit her, the affidavit says, and several relatives knew he had a gun. That information may help prosecutors explain why detectives centered the case on Black quickly, but it does not fully answer the issue of intent that often shapes a murder prosecution. Police have not publicly described an argument that night, a text exchange, a 911 call from inside the room or another direct clue to motive. As a result, the case as publicly known is strongest on scene reconstruction and weaker on stated reason.
Black turned himself in the afternoon of March 7 and was charged with second-degree murder. Later reporting said a judge, after a preliminary hearing, found probable cause and sent the case to Fremont County District Court. Black was being held on a $750,000 cash-only bond, and the charge carries a penalty of 20 years to life if he is convicted. Public reports available through Apr. 7 did not show a district court arraignment date. That means the next important procedural step is not a verdict but a formal setting where the charge is read in district court and the case begins moving toward motions, discovery fights and, eventually, a trial date if no plea occurs.
Bell’s life outside the evidence file adds another layer to the story. Her obituary said she was born in Riverton, lived in the area all her life, graduated from Arapaho Charter High School in 2022 and practiced traditional Native American ways. It also said she had worked at the Rusty Truck, the Airport Café and the Casino. Those details do not alter the legal questions in court, but they explain why the killing has landed beyond the crime blotter in a town where the room, the road and the names are familiar to many residents.
At this stage, the case is defined by what detectives say they can prove from one room and a narrow set of hours. Black remains charged, the evidence outline from the affidavit remains central and the next public development is likely to come when district court sets the arraignment or later filings reveal more about the firearm recovery, forensic testing and the prosecution’s full theory.
Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.