ROCK SPRINGS — A California truck driver accused of stabbing a man at an Interstate 80 rest area had his bond set to $1 million cash or surety during his initial appearance Thursday afternoon.
Andrew Kirs Bzdak, 44, of San Gabriel, California, made his initial appearance before Magistrate Scott Nelson, the Rock Springs Municipal Judge, who was filling in for Circuit Court Judge John Prokos.
Bzdak is charged with Attempt to Commit Murder in the First Degree, which carries a possible death penalty. A person could also be sentenced to life in prison without parole or life in prison according to law, meaning parole would be a possibility, as well as a potential fine of up to $10,000. Nelson questioned if the death penalty could be imposed on an attempted murder charge during the hearing. Wyoming doesn’t have a specific law related to attempted first-degree murder, with the charge being filed if a person is alleged to have completed an act considered a substantial step in committing first-degree murder. As such, the penalties are the same as if someone died, with other mitigating factors surrounding the situation used by a district court judge during sentencing if a guilty plea or verdict is reached.
According to court documents, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the eastbound I-80 Rest Area at mile marker 144 at 3:27 a.m. Sunday morning after a man reported being stabbed at the rest area. A second call at 3:29 a.m. was received where the caller said they may have witnessed a stabbing and saw a man flee the area eastbound in a tractor-trailer combination, identifying the truck itself and following it to Rawlins.
The victim was air-flighted to Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, where he gave a brief statement to a Casper Police Department Officer, saying he stopped at the rest area to use the restroom when he was attacked by a man holding a blue knife. The man received four stab wounds, two in the neck and two in the chest, and had 17 lacerations.
Bzdak was identified through camera footage taken outside of the rest area and through a photograph provided by the Wyoming Highway Patrol after his arrest.
