Female Domestic Violence Killings In Colorado — 2006-Present
Female Domestic Violence Killings In Colorado — 2006-Present© 2006 Equal Justice Foundation
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Wife held after reporting husband stabbed to death in Denver
Man stabbed to death in Denver during argument with his girlfriend
Colorado Springs mom with long history of domestic violence kills 19-year-old son
Two women arrested in Colorado Springs motel stabbing
Woman runs over husband in driveway in Colorado Springs
Man fatally shot at Sloan's Lake in Denver during domestic dispute
Former Las Animas County attorney shot to death by his wife in presence of sheriff's deputy
Colorado Springs woman shoots and kills boyfriend
Supermax prison guard shot by his wife in Cañon City
Denver woman arrested in apparent homicide
April 14, 2006 — A 52-year-old woman stabbed her husband to death and then called to report a domestic violence incident to Denver police, authorities said. Debra Evans was covered with blood when police arrived. Her husband, Clifford Evans, was found bleeding in his bed from what appeared to be chest wounds.
Debra Evans was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 51-year-old husband. The homicide occurred at 1920 East 17 th Avenue, #101, in Denver.
The victim was taken to Denver Health Medical Center following the 7 PM call and was pronounced dead, said Virginia Quiñones, Denver police spokeswoman.
A Fox21 news reporter who contacted the Equal Justice Foundation about this murder indicated that neighbors had become inured to the couple fighting and that the husband had always been the victim. A search of Denver court records shows that Debra Evans, also known as Debrah Wellington, DOB 3/16/1954, had previously been convicted of domestic violence/assault for an incident that occurred on August 30, 2001, at the 1920 E. 17 th Street address. Presumably she was sentenced to the standard 36-week treatment for DV offenders as a result of this conviction but it is unknown whether she completed the course. In any event whatever treatment she received was clearly ineffective.
In addition, as Debrah Wellington she had a domestic violence conviction for disturbing the peace, destruction of private property, and assault for an incident that occurred on January 11, 1990, at 310 W. Archer Place.
Denver Post, p. 3C
July 30, 2006 — A Denver man died early Saturday, hours after his girlfriend apparently stabbed him during a loud and frantic fight, police said.
Ray Mendez, 60, was stabbed to death after an argument with his girlfriend, 37-year-old June Gardner. Residents of the apartment complex in the 4300 block of Lipan Street said Mendez was a rare friendly neighbor.
Officers were summoned about 10:20 PM Friday, July 28 th . Next-door neighbor Luis Gamboa, 24, said Ms. Gardner had been shouting profanities for some time before Mendez staggered outside his unit.
For a few moments, the bloodied man pounded on his own apartment door, shouting. He fell back on to the front lawn, a few dozen paces from a playground, where he stayed until emergency crews carted him off.
Officers arrested his girlfriend, June Gardner, who had also suffered knife wounds, on suspicion of second-degree homicide.
Doctors at Denver Health Medical Center pronounced Mendez dead about 4:30 AM, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Ray Mendez was outwardly friendly in a neighborhood where residents said they keep to themselves for fear of attracting trouble. He used to drop by Gamboa's home and offer him food and drink.
On Sunday, October 1, 2006, 35-year-old Alexandra A. Davis stabbed her husband, 45-year-old Ronnie Davis, to death in his home in the 900 block of South Iola Street, Aurora.
Mrs. Davis then called 911 and told dispatchers that she stabbed her husband according to the Tuesday, October 3 rd edition of the Denver Post (Briefing, p. 2B).
She is being held without bail at the Arapahoe County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder according to the buried two-column inch article. After all, he was just a husband being murdered by his wife, so who cares?
Abstracted from story by R. Scott Rappold,
Colorado Springs Gazette
February 3, 2007
— A Colorado Springs woman was arrested late Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder for allegedly plunging a knife into the chest of her 19-year-old son.
Johnny Velasquez called police to the home at 1421 N. Corona St., according to Colorado Springs police Sgt. Sal Fiorillo. He later died at Penrose Hospital.
His mother, Ila Voyles, 45, is in El Paso County jail without bail.
About 7:30 PM, the two were engaged in what Fiorillo described as "an ongoing family argument" when Voyles allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Velasquez. Fiorillo said there is no indication the argument was physical before the stabbing.
"The information we found out was it was just a verbal argument and she stabbed him," Fiorillo said. Another family member in the house at the time was not hurt, Fiorillo said.
No other details on the killing were released. A police affidavit detailing evidence against Voyles was not available Friday.
An autopsy Friday determined Velasquez died from a single stab wound to the chest.
Neighbors, meanwhile, said Friday they were not surprised by the outbreak of violence involving the woman they knew as "Wild Ila."
By day, she often went house-to-house, asking for money, or approached moving cars to ask for spare change, said neighbor Carl Miedke. By night, the house often rattled with shouting, he said.
"There is a definite confrontation, at least once a week," he said, adding that police cruisers were a regular sight there.
Police on Friday could not provide a record of calls to that address, nor would they release tapes of Thursday's 911 call, citing an ongoing investigation.
Property records show Voyles did not own the house, though she lived there for several years.
Voyles has a long criminal history, dating to a burglary arrest in 1980, court records show. She has since been arrested four times on suspicion of domestic violence, twice on suspicion of child abuse and twice on suspicion of theft. The charges were all dismissed except for a theft case in which she received a deferred judgment and was required to pay restitution.
In 1998, she was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and other charges after smashing a boyfriend's truck window with a hammer after he locked her out of the North Corona Street house, court records show. She then broke a window on the house and struck the boyfriend several times with the hammer. She was sentenced to probation.
Her most recent arrest before Thursday came in 2002, when she was accused of selling a quarter-pound of marijuana to a police informant, court records show. She pled guilty and was sentenced to one year's probation.
Abstracted from story by Anthony Lane, Colorado Springs Gazette
April 21, 2007 — A woman fatally stabbed in her room at a North Nevada Avenue motel early Wednesday was killed by a female rival in a romantic triangle, according to an arrest affidavit obtained Friday.
Stephanie Deverick and Crystal Mawson, both 29, were jailed Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the slaying of Diana Young, 45.
Both women are being held without bond.
Residents at the Ranch Motel, 3900 N. Nevada Ave., called police after a bleeding woman started banging on doors about 2:30 AM Wednesday, crying for help. Young died outside her neighbor's room before emergency crews arrived.
Later Wednesday, investigators heard from the victim's friends about the developing rivalry.
A friend of Young's told police she was mad that Mawson "stole her man" and threatened to assault her, according to the affidavit.
Mawson and Deverick also made threats against Young, the affidavit says. A woman told police Deverick talked to her about plans to kill Young as "far back as two weeks ago."
They learned where Ms. Young lived by secretly following Oliver Padeway Jr., the father of Young's 1-year-old child, to the motel one night, the woman told police. Crystal Mawson was dating Padeway at the time, police said.
Ms. Deverick talked about the killing when she was questioned Thursday, according to the affidavit. She said both women packed extra clothes and a razor before going to the motel. Deverick knocked on the door and then Mawson, who was wearing surgical gloves, followed her into the room and slashed at Young, according to the affidavit.
Afterward, they changed clothes and dumped them, the razor, and the gloves in three trash bins, one of them a block west of Mawson's apartment on Magnolia Street in northern Colorado Springs, Deverick told police.
Mawson's arrest Thursday was her second in as many weeks. She was jailed on suspicion of marijuana possession and child abuse April 11, and she also pled guilty in 2000 to forgery.
Padeway was jailed Tuesday on suspicion of domestic abuse involving Young, and he was in custody the night of the killing, the arrest affidavit states.
October 4-5, 2007 —According to the Colorado Springs Gazette (p. A8 & p. A7) an elderly woman killed her husband when she drove over him in the driveway of their home in the 4700 block of Shadowglen Drive in Colorado Springs Wednesday night around 10 PM.
Raymond Geist, 89, died when his wife, Ruth Geist, also 89, struck him while pulling into the garage of their home. Police said she wasn't able to hit the brakes quickly enough and pinned him against a cabinet along the back wall. Reportedly she was pulling into the garage to take her husband to a hospital for an undisclosed illness. However, the police investigation concluded this was simply a tragic accident.
October 9, 2007 — According to the Rocky Mountain News a man was fatally shot at Sloan's Lake about 7:30 PM Monday during a domestic dispute. The victim was found outside a car and was taken to nearby St. Anthony Central Hospital where he died.
"We got a call last night of a possible suicide," Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. "Through the investigation, we determined he had not shot himself."
The victim was identified Tuesday as Joseph Trujillo, age 56. 42-year-old Shari Herrera of Edgewater has been charged with first-degree homicide in connection with the shooting. Ms. Herrera was seen speaking with Mr. Trujillo shortly before a shot was fired and he fell to the ground.
In related stories the Denver Post failed to even mention this was a domestic violence homicide.
December 3, 2007 (AP) — Former Las Animas County Attorney Jim Tatum was shot to death and his wife was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after a fight at their home in Weston, authorities said.
An arrest warrant said Tatum, 68, had slapped and punched Ann Tatum, 57, on Thursday before she pulled a .38-caliber revolver from her purse and shot him repeatedly, then took another revolver away from him and fired again.
Las Animas County Sheriff's Deputy John Martinez was staying with the couple at the time and witnessed the shooting, Sheriff James Casias said.
The affidavit said Martinez tried to break the couple apart before the shooting but was pushed aside and struck his head, "dazing him momentarily."
After he was shot the first time, Jim Tatum fell to the floor, then grunted, got back on his feet and grabbed another gun from a holster on the kitchen counter, the affidavit said.
Ann Tatum grabbed that revolver from her husband and turned it on him, firing as he fell to the floor, the affidavit said. She set the two pistols on the counter and left the kitchen, the affidavit said.
Martinez called 911, and responding deputies found Jim Tatum in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. Martinez said he found Ann Tatum in a bedroom, apparently in shock.
She was being held under $175,000 bail.
Jim Tatum was Las Animas county attorney until 2003, when his contract was not renewed. He opened a law office in Trinidad after leaving the county attorney's office.
Abstracted from article by Jennifer Wilson, Colorado Springs Gazette
December 4, 2007 — Lisa Jean Hinkle, 52, shot Kyle Levi Haner, 27, once in the chest with a handgun shortly after 9 AM at 1222 Lewis Lane near Galley Road and Powers Boulevard, police said. Neighbors said Hinkle and Haner rented the house.
Immediately after the shooting, Ms. Hinkle called 911 claiming to have shot a man in self-defense. Police questioned and released Ms. Hinkle. The shooting is under investigation.
Haner was pronounced dead at 9:45 AM at Memorial Hospital.
Court records and police reports reveal a rocky two-year relationship between Hinkle and Haner, and the two had a history of domestic violence.
During an argument November 16 at the house, Haner threatened to kill Hinkle and her family, a police report said. As the fight escalated, Ms. Hinkle grabbed a pellet gun and hit Haner in the forehead with it, the report said.
Haner then trapped Hinkle in the backyard by securing the front door of the house with a chain lock and the backyard gate with heavy-gauge wire, the report said.
Haner pled guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in connection with the November fight and received a two-year deferred sentence.
Ms. Hinkle applied for and received a temporary restraining order against Haner and they had been scheduled to appear in court about a half hour before the fatal shooting Monday for a hearing on a permanent restraining order.
© 2008 by Kirk Mitchell, The Denver Post
June 11, 2008 — A Cañon City stay-at-home mother of three who called her husband her "hero" is in jail, accused of fatally shooting him in the chest, authorities said.
Robin Carole Gall was being held Tuesday in the Fremont County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond for investigation of second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Brent Thomas Gall, 40, authorities said. [Compare this bond with the million-dollar bail imposed on Pitkin County man for misdemeanor domestic violence.]
Fremont County sheriff's deputies went to the Gall home at 9:52 p.m. Monday in answer to a domestic violence call, said Andrea Cooper, sheriff's spokeswoman. According to Cooper, there had not been any previous calls to the Sheriff's Office from the home.
Brent Gall, a federal prison employee and bass guitar player in a local rock band, was found dead in the home with a gunshot wound to the chest.
"I'm just your typical stay-at-home mom and housewife," Robin Gall said on her MySpace page. "I like to crochet a lot and I volunteer for the Warm the World Foundation. We make blankets for our troops and orphaned children."
On her site, she said that her husband and her three daughters were her heroes and that she loved to ride motorcycles. She wrote that she met her husband in Yokosuka, Japan, when both of them were enlisted in the Navy during the Persian Gulf War. "I have profound respect for anyone in the military," she noted on her Web page.
Brent Gall had been a guard and computer programmer at ADX Maximum Security Facility, or Supermax, in Florence. In 2003, he was acquitted in federal court of participating with a group of correctional officers nicknamed the "cowboys," who were accused of beating up federal prisoners. Three of the guards were convicted.
"He was a pretty mild-mannered guy," said Dan Sears, Brent Gall's defense attorney in the federal case.
Brent Gall was in a Cañon City rock band called the Side Project that had just recorded a live CD Friday. The band, which often rehearsed in the garage of the Galls' house, played at motorcycle rallies and in bars.
"The whole thing is shocking to me," said Rich Bosisio, a band member. "I didn't see this coming."
Nan Sullivan, founder of Warm the World, said Robin Gall crocheted beautiful blankets but would never come to a warehouse where other volunteers met because she didn't think her husband would approve. "She seemed very controlled by him," Sullivan said. "She wouldn't do anything without the approval of her husband." [Redfem blaming the victim.]
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
Abstracted from article by Kirk Mitchell in June 15, 2008, Denver Post
According to the Denver Police Department on June 12, 2008, at approximately 4:50 PM police responded to 2535 East Asbury Avenue, near the University of Denver, on a report of a stabbing. Upon arrival, officers found the body of a man who had suffered stab wounds. Paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
Police said they arrested Audrey Eve Cahow, 51 at the scene on suspicion of first-degree murder. Police reported the victim and Ms. Cahow were involved in an argument and that Ms. Cahow produced a knife and stabbed Anthony Martinez, 62, Denver police spokesman John White said. Mr. Martinez was apparently Ms. Cahow's current husband, the last of several. Ms. Cahow is reported to be an habitual drug user and alcoholic.
Investigators believe Cahow and Martinez were arguing when Ms. Cahow stabbed him. Martinez died of a single stab wound to the chest and heart.
Ms. Cahow also suffered stab wounds and was sent to Denver Health Medical Center's intensive care unit. "I don't know how she was stabbed," said Capt. Frank Gale, a spokesman for the Denver County Jail.
Ms. Cahow has previously served numerous jail and prison sentences for assault and domestic violence dating to July 10, 1987, when she stabbed her then husband, Paul Vaughn, who was 62 at the time. She was then 35.
She was charged with attempted murder and pled guilty to second-degree assault in a plea bargain in which she was sentenced to two years' probation and required to stay in a halfway house.
On June 2, 1990, Ms. Cahow told police she stabbed Vaughn five times in the back and the side after he pointed his finger in her face. She was charged with attempted murder a second time but entered a plea in which the charge was dismissed in exchange for her pleading guilty to second-degree assault. She was sentenced to six years of intensive probation October 15, 1990.
In May 1995, she was charged with brandishing a weapon, assault and threats.
On February 15, 1999, Cahow "snuck into the emergency room by the triage area" of St. Joseph Hospital and threatened a woman with a 16-inch knife, according to Denver District Court records. She demanded to see a doctor to treat a hand injury.
"The defendant waved the knife at everybody that was in her vicinity and threatened to kill anybody that comes near her," a police report says.
In that incident Ms. Cahow was charged with felony menacing with a deadly weapon. She was sentenced to five years' intensive probation and later served 18 months in prison when she repeatedly violated probation, according to district court records.
In the last known incident before this murder, on July 22, 2004, Ms. Cahow threatened to kill a neighbor and chased her with a knife. For that, despite her extensive record, she was sentenced to just 10 days in jail.
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| Chapter 15 — Women Who Have Killed Their Partners In Colorado |
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