Lovell woman bound over for arson, attempted murder

A Lovell woman has been bound over to district court on numerous felony charges as the result of an alleged arson that took place last August in Lovell.

Heather Dian Cozzens, born in 1987, was bound over to Fifth Judicial District Court on Wednesday, April 29, on five felony counts: attempted first degree murder, first degree arson, criminal trespass and two counts of property destruction with values of $1,000 or more following a preliminary hearing in circuit court.

Cozzens was arrested on August 11, 2025, after an early morning fire in a car parked in the alley behind a home at 245 Carmon that was spreading to a garage and could have spread to an attached home but was extinguished by the Lovell Volunteer Fire Department before it could do so.

The LVFD was dispatched to the home at 1:09 a.m. August 11 after a neighbor across the alley was awakened by his dog barking. Alerted by the family Corgi, Ollie, the neighbor, Bruce Wacker, went to his backyard and noticed flames in the car. He immediately called 911, and the fire department responded quickly to extinguish the flames.

According to the fire department report at the time, then fire chief Mike Jameson was first on the scene and was able to put down the fire as the first truck was pulling into the alley. Firemen finished extinguishing the car fire and also noticed spots burning on the ground around the car. Fire damage to the garage was also noticed.

A fire marshal from Riverton was called to investigate the fire and was on scene by 6 a.m., bringing a dog trained in recognizing accelerants at fire scenes, and the dog did detect an accelerant at the scene, according to a fire report at the time. Area surveillance camera footage was also viewed by investigators.

Affidavit details

According to an affidavit of probable cause produced by Lovell police officer Shantel Coleman on August 12, the home at 245 Carmon was occupied by Yvette DeLaCruz and Mikeal Martinelli and three children, and the children are the biological children of Martinelli and Cozzens, his ex-partner.

When Officer Coleman arrived on scene, the affidavit states, she observed a gold 2004 Honda car facing the garage door and not more than two feet away from the structure, which was attached to the house. The car was smoking from under the hood, and the fire department had the blaze under control. A broken glass container for pouring a liquid was found on the ground between the car and the garage door, the affidavit states.

In the process of the investigation, Coleman said she noticed “significant damage under the hood of the vehicle, (to) the west garage door and (to) framing around the garage door.” She also viewed Blink camera footage showing a vehicle leaving the scene down the alley resembling a vehicle owned by Cozzens, as well as a light source “resembling flames” and smoke rising above the homes in the area.

The affidavit continues that Coleman drove to Cozzens’ apartment and observed her silver Buick LeSabre parked in front of her residence, the front grill warm to the touch, “indicating the vehicle had been running recently.” After several attempts to contact Cozzens, Coleman left the scene, but two deputies remained on scene and were then able to make contact, after which Coleman returned.

Deputy (Seth) Hoblit told Cozzens that Officer Coleman needed to speak to her about an incident “over there,” pointing to the south, and Cozzens reportedly told deputy (Caden) Zeller that she was not at Martinelli’s house, even though he did not mention any names or addresses, the affidavit states.

When Officer Coleman spoke to Cozzens, she told the officer that she had let a friend borrow the car but “couldn’t come up with a timeline on when the friend had her car,” then stated that no one had borrowed the car. She did say she had been in the hospital and left around 11:30 p.m. and went home and didn’t leave the house, but the car was still warm some three hours after her stated arrival time.

While speaking with Cozzens, Coleman said she noticed a white, ashy substance on Cozzens’ right hand, and she stated she burned herself with a cigarette but not a lighter. She was read her Miranda rights and made a number of statements about Martinelli and DeLaCruz. She was taken to the hospital for evaluation, then taken to the Big Horn County Detention Center in Basin.

The affidavit states that the state fire investigator “made the following observations:

“A. The flame came within inches of insulation, which would have been catastrophic. (‘We’d be having a whole different investigation.’)

“B. The pour pattern started on the roof of the car and traveled over the car’s hood.

“C. The jar was placed or thrown in front of the car between the (car and the) garage door (which was about two feet from the door).

“D. That a bedroom abutted the garage wall, which was (a) highly flammable wall covering.”

The affidavit also presents information linking the glass container found broken at the scene of the fire to a container seen in Cozzens’ home and on the value of the car and the damage to the garage.