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I think I killed him this time
Greeley man's family conspired to kill him
A child dies from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
Mother of Norwood double-homicide victims receives life in prison and will not be eligible for parole
Craig woman shoots husband at Bear Valley Inn
Daughter murders her father in their Federal Heights home
Woman arrested in fatal stabbing of her boyfriend south of Colorado Springs
Slaying a scene of horror in Clifton
Army veteran gunned down in Colorado Springs apartment
Denver woman arrested after shooting man in donut shop parking lot
Colorado Springs woman kills her Army veteran fiancé over possible wedding guest
Colorado Springs teen lured to his death by girl after his money
Woman arrested in Colorado Springs for murder of her wife
Twenty-year old man murdered in Fountain
Woman kills her lesbian lover in Denver
Disappearance and murder of Gannon Stauch
Colorado Springs mother charged with second degree murder after shooting boyfriend
Police doubt woman's claim of self-defense after she killed her husband
Colorado Springs man murdered by his wife and their son to try and get his inheritance
83-year-old killed, left in bathtub in El Paso County shooting after long dispute
Canon City woman held for trial in homicide witnessed by neighbors
Abstracted from story by Jesse Paul, The Denver Post
April 1, 2017
— A woman fatally stabbed her boyfriend in a Five Points apartment in Denver before proclaiming
“I think I killed him this time.”
l
Elaine Gallegos,47, was being held at the Denver County Jail without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder in the slaying of Leslie Southern Jr., 56 He was pronounced dead at Denver Health medical center after being attacked on the 2100 block of Stout Street. Mr. Southern died of sharp-force injuries in what has been ruled a homicide.
Denver police say they were called out at about 12:45 AM to an apartment on the 2100 block of Stout Street where they found Southern unresponsive.
A woman who said she witnessed the stabbing told investigators that Ms. Gallegos, whom she identified as Southern's girlfriend, was responsible, according to an arrest affidavit. The witness said Gallegos and Southern were fighting when she hit him in the face and he hit her back.
Gallegos then said, “I'm gonna cut this motherfucker,” the affidavit says, before stabbing Southern once in the chest.
Ms. Gallegos called 911 and told a dispatcher that when she had returned to her apartment that she had found Leslie Southern lying on the floor bleeding. But she fled before first responders arrived. When questioned, Ms. Gallegos identified Southern as her “drinking buddy.”
In March 2018 Elaine Gallegos pled guilty to second-degree murder. On June 5, 2018, Elaine Gallegos was sentenced to 24-years in prison for the murder of her boyfriend.
Abstracted from story published by Cassa Niedringhaus on October 17, 2017, in the Coloradoan and other news stories
Murder occurred on August 15, 2017 — The wife and family members of a 59-year-old Greeley man conspired to kill him, collect his life insurance money, and sell his belongings.
Randy Baker was fatally shot in his Greeley home on August 15 th and a criminal investigation uncovered a complicated web of family members, acquaintances and strangers who police found were connected to his death, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Greeley police officers arrested three people who have since been charged with first-degree murder after deliberation and conspiring to commit first-degree murder: Randy Baker's wife, Kelly Baker, 48; his sister, Carol Baker, 63; and his nephew, Kelly Raisley, 37.
Using cell phone records and witness interviews, Greeley police pieced together the plan Randy Baker's family members began concocting as he recovered from heart surgery in June — two months before he was shot twice as he walked from his garage into his home in the 1900 block of 44 th Ave.
According to court documents detailing the police investigation, Kelly Baker began an affair and announced she was leaving Randy Baker several months preceding his murder.
Police say Kelly Baker and Randy's sister, Carol Baker, were close friends who exchanged more than 4,500 text messages during the this time frame. Carol Baker also traded messages about the plot with her son Kelly Raisley.
In one message Raisley sent to Carol Baker about six weeks before the killing, he cautioned that Mrs. Baker would have to submit to “a barrage of questions ” and would need to “understand how strong she may need to be,” according to investigators.
On the night of August 15 th Kelly Raisley snuck into Randy Baker's home, shot him and took his Pontiac. Carol Baker told police that her son instructed her to have the car destroyed, and she turned it over to her nephew, 30-year old Mark Raisley. She instructed him to sell the car to a “chop shop” or otherwise dismantle it, but Kelly Raisley instructed him to burn it.
Mark Raisley's girlfriend, Santita Bachand, and Mark's roommate, Mike Osborn, washed down and abandoned the car when media reports surfaced that it was connected to the homicide investigation, according to court documents. Mark Raisley, Mike Osborn and Ms. Sanita Bachand were later arrested. Mark Raisley and Bachard were charged with felony accessory to murder and tampering with evidence.
Although Kelly Baker initially reported to police that her husband's life insurance policies totaled a mere $10,000, later investigation revealed his life insurance was worth $123,000.
Police say Mrs. Baker and Carol Baker took cash and valuables from the home before Randy Baker's death. Shortly after his death the women also sold some of his possessions, such as a riding lawnmower and another vehicle. The women gave Randy's motorcycle to Kelly Raisley, in part, as “payment for murdering Randy Baker,” police said. Investigators also believe Raisley was paid between $10,000 and $13,000 in cash as well for the murder.
Carol Baker admitted to police that Kelly Baker and Kelly Raisley conspired to murder Randy Baker, and she facilitated their planning by forwarding messages between the two, according to court documents.
All three were charged with first-degree murder.
Kelly Raisley was sentenced to life in prison for the murder after he pled guilty in May 2018. His mother, Carol Baker, now 65, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on January 25, 2019, with Judge Lyons commenting that is fair that she die in prison for killing her brother. The trial for Randy Keller's adulterous and murderous wife is scheduled for May 6, 2019.
Abstracted from story by Janet Oravetz, 9NEWS, and other sources including Wikipedia
August 20, 2017 — Seven-year-old Olivia Gant died and her cause of death was attributed to intestinal failure, with her mother publicly claiming her child was terminally ill.
At the time her mother, Kelly Renee Turner-Gant, AKA Kelly Turner, then 38, argued that Olivia was so sick, and her quality of life so poor, that the humane thing to do was to stop medical care and allow her to die. After Olivia died her cause of death was attributed to intestinal failure.
But an investigation began a year later after Kelly Turner publicly claimed another daughter had been diagnosed with cancer — something the girl's medical records show was not true. Douglas County sheriff's investigators then began looking into Olivia's death, and eventually secured a grand jury indictment in 2018.
After investigators exhumed Olivia's body in November 2018, a forensic pathologist found no evidence of intestinal failure or “many of the conditions” that her mother claimed Olivia had been diagnosed with, according to the indictment.
The indictment painted a sinister picture: Multiple doctors who didn't believe Olivia was terminally ill battling a mother who was so persuasive that she convinced one of the physicians to sign a “ do not resuscitate” order and ultimately withdrew all of her daughter's medical care — including what is known as total parenteral nutrition, which provided nourishment through an intravenous line. Olivia died a few weeks after this.
Ms. Turner was then accused of killing her daughter Olivia Gant in 2017. She was charged with:
• Two counts of first-degree murder
• Three counts of charitable fraud
• Two counts of attempting to influence a public official
The indictment alleged that Kelly Turner defrauded the Medicaid system of more than $538,000, defrauded over 100 individual donors who had given to her online fundraisers, as well as Heflebower Funeral & Cremation Services, Seven Stones Cemetery, and two charity foundations that had provided help and support for Olivia Gant.
She pled guilty to charges in January 2022 to three charges related to the death including child abuse causing death, theft, and charitable fraud.
On February 9, 2022, District Court Judge Patricia Herron formally sentenced Kelly R. Turner to serve 16 years in prison for pumping her daughter Olivia Gant full of drugs and forcing her to undergo dozens of unnecessary surgeries in the lead up to her 2017 death. Ms. Turner was sentenced to 16 years on one count, 10 years on a second count, and three years on the final count. Those sentences will be served concurrently, meaning she will only serve a total of 16 years in prison, and will serve three years of probation upon her release.
The judge also ordered that Kelly Turner can never profit from the case now or in the future. She made the stipulation due to the high interest in the case and pointed out that Ms. Turner could be consulted for movies or books related to the case.
Kelly Turner's two other daughters are no longer in her care. The oldest daughter, who had been brought into Children's Hospital Colorado in early 2018 for what her mother had claimed was bone pain, had no further symptoms since October 2018 after Ms. Turner was no longer involved in her care.
Olivia Gant's case has generated debates over the role of healthcare professionals in preventing child abuse, as well as additional recognition of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy as a mental illness.
Abstracted from a story by Samantha Tisdel Wright, Telluride Daily Planet
September 2017
— Authorities discovered the mummified corpses of two sisters, Makayla Roberts, 10, and Hannah Marshall, 8, in a trash-filled car on a former marijuana farm belonging to Norwood resident Alec Blair. A post-mortem investigation showed the girls had been dead for at least several weeks before their remains were discovered — victims of a doomsday religious group to which their mother belonged.
According to court records, the group's spiritual leader, Madani Ceus of Haiti, had declared the girls to be unclean spirits and banished them to the car with no food or water as their mother, Nashika Bramble, stood by and let them die.
In July, 2019, a Montrose jury found Nashika Bramble guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the role she played in her daughters' deaths. The Class 1 felonies carried a state-mandated sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Nashika Bramble, now 38, sat in a chair pushed against the courtroom wall in Telluride. Dressed in a baggy orange-and-white-striped T-shirt and matching orange pants, with a thick leather belt around her waist, she rocked back and forth, and appeared to wipe away some tears, as she waited to receive her sentence. It was 9 AM. Her court-appointed defense attorney, Harvey Palefsky, was running late. Around 9:07 AM., Palefsky rushed in. Nashika rose to join him at a little table facing the judge's bench, and the sentencing hearing for case number 2017CR31, the People of the State of Colorado vs. Nashika Bramble, began.
District Judge Keri Yoder asked Bramble if she would like to make a statement. “No, your honor,” Bramble softly replied, after a long pause. Then it was Yoder's turn to speak.
“It is incumbent upon me to say something to you, even though this is a mandatory sentence,” she began. “The community deserves it. Your daughters deserve it. Your conduct was aberrant. Your conduct was monstrous. There is just really no other way of putting it.”
“Demonic possession is what I call it,” Bramble interjected.
“Your two small children were left to die in what served as a dumpster to them, and as a coffin,” Judge Yoder continued.
“I'm talking now,” Judge Yoder said:
“That's what happened. They were treated no better than garbage. They were stripped of their identities, dehumanized. They were left to rot in a vehicle with no food or water. The buck stopped with you, Miss Bramble. You were their mother. They were helpless children; maybe even more helpless than most, given their background. ... When they cried out to you, you did nothing. You just let them sit there, day after day.”
Bramble sat quietly as Judge Yoder recounted more disturbing details of the story, including how Bramble saved herself by fleeing to Grand Junction after Madani Ceus deemed her unclean.
“You have shown me you are no wallflower,” Judge Yoder said. “You are not someone who is easily manipulated. That is clear. You have been manipulative throughout the course of these proceedings, and I see that.”
Judge Yoder ultimately imposed two consecutive life sentences on Bramble. “One for each of your daughters,” she said. “Without the possibility of parole.”
The next chapter in the legal saga over the deaths of Hannah Marshall and Makayla Roberts unfolded on October 31, 2019, when Judge Yoder sentenced Alec Blair for his role in the girls' deaths. Blair accepted a plea deal to an accessory charge in exchange for a capped sentence of 12 years and has received immunity for his testimony at the trials of his co-defendants in the case.
Madani Ceus's husband, Ashford Archer, was convicted in March 2019 of two counts of fatal child abuse and one count of being an accessory to a crime. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison, and plans to appeal.
Madani Ceus has pled not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse. She was set to go to trial in January 2020 in Gunnison.
A fifth member of the cult who has charged, Ika Eden of Jamaica, has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial and is being treated at the state mental hospital in Pueblo.
Ceus and Blair were being held at the San Miguel County Jail in Ilium. Nashika Bramble was transferred to the Colorado State Prison system after her trial.
Story abstracted from story by Lauren Blair in the Steamboat Pilot&Times and other news stories
October 4, 2017
— Rachel Niemeyer, 40, shot her husband, Michael Freese, 48, after drinking heavily and
“messing around”
with a rifle — that was supposedly unloaded — in their hotel room, according to court documents. The couple appeared to have been living there as they looked for employment in town and hey had been married about three years.
Rachel Ann Niemeyer, 40, was charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, two counts of prohibited use of a weapon and second-degree assault of a police officer — she reportedly kicked an officer in the shin — after shooting her husband. She was originally arrested on a charge of first-degree domestic violence.
Michael Freese was transported to the hospital with an “extremely serious, life-threatening injury,” according to an emergency room physician's statement, which was included in the arrest affidavit for Mrs. Niemeyer. The bullet entered his right ear and lodged in the C2 vertebra of his spine. He was flown to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, where he died the following day.
During interviews with officers, Mrs. Neimeyer offered a fuzzy account of what happened, asking officers repeatedly if she had shot her husband. In other moments, she remarked she had done it and claimed that Michael set her up, stating that Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease four to five months earlier and that he had “told her to just take him out back and shoot him or put arsenic in his tea. ”
Mrs. Neimeyer told officers Michael had been playing around with the gun; then, they'd passed it back and forth. She added Freese had told her the weapon was not loaded. They were pulling the trigger as they passed it back and forth, she said.
They may have gotten into an argument at one point, according to her account. She told officers her husband beat her when they fought [ye olde abuse excuse], but it didn't happen regularly, and “everything had been getting better.”
The pair had just interviewed and landed jobs at the Clarion Inn earlier that day. They had started drinking to celebrate, and she had consumed a bottle of wine, he had consumed a six-pack of beer, and both had taken three shots of whiskey, according to her account.
Illustrating futility of bureaucratic, ideological bumbling, the Bear Valley Inn caretaker Anton Scherbl had attended Tuesday's Moffat County commissioners meeting, during which October was declared Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “When sitting at the county commissioners meeting, I had no idea it would come to my door step,” he stated piously. “I am very sorry that this happened to Craig.”
Abstracted from story by Jim Patterson, Craig Press
May 14, 2018 — Following a six-day trial and nearly seven hours of deliberation Monday, a jury of 10 women and two men found Rachel Niemeyer guilty of murder in the second degree in the October 4, 2017, shooting death of her husband, Michael Adam Freese.
The jury also found Niemeyer guilty of assault in the second degree, prohibited use of a firearm under the influence and prohibited use of a firearm.
Following the reading of the verdict, Chief Judge Michael A. O'Hara ordered a pre-sentencing investigative report and set a pre-sentencing hearing for 1 PM July 16, remanding Mrs. Niemeyer to the custody of the Moffat County Sheriff's Office, without bond, pending that hearing.
On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Rachel Niemeyer was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison for the October 4, 2017, murder of her husband, Michael Adam Freese.
Abstracted from story by Oxygen and various news sources
December 7, 2017
— William Mussack's son told police his father, Bill, age 69, had sent a text message saying his daughter Dayna Jennings, 44, had
“drugged”
him. But no further action was taken at that time.
Shortly after the Christmas holiday, on the evening of December 28, 2017, Robert Mussack called 911 dispatch in Federal Heights to request a wellness check on his brother, Bill Mussack, whom he had not heard from in more than two weeks.
At the time, Bill, 69, was sharing his home with his adult daughter, Dayna Jennings, and officers were dispatched to the home to check on him. When they arrived, they were greeted by Dayna, a local massage therapist, who said her father “didn't really live” at the house anymore and only came by every few days, according to police body cam footage.
She claimed she had not seen her father in about 10 days and that he had lost his phone; that she later found inside the house and placed by a stack of mail for him to pick up whenever he returned.
Despite Dayna's explanation, police soon heard from another member of the family, Bill's son, Brian Mussack, who said he became concerned after not speaking to his father for several days. Just minutes after authorities heard from Brian, Bill's brother Robert called the police a second time to file a missing persons report.
On December 29, authorities returned to the home and again spoke with Dayna, who claimed Bill had gone camping in the mountains with his friend “Martha,” but she did not know her address or last name.
Dayna allowed the officer to look around the home, and when he walked through the front door, he was hit with an extremely foul odor, which Jennings attributed to a toilet overflow in the basement.
She continued to tell the officer that Bill didn't have his own room in the house anymore and that when he did sleep over, he would crash on her massage table. While searching the home, the officer found none of Bill's personal items, and there was no evidence that he was still living there or had been at the house recently.
Hoping to find out more information about Bill's whereabouts, investigators tracked down Martha's phone number. Speaking with police, Martha said that she did own a camping property, but she had not seen or heard from Bill since early December, which she thought was out of character.
Officers then returned to the Mussack home to speak with Dayna again. She claimed although she had still not seen her father, the rent money she had left on the counter had been picked up along with Bill's cellphone.
Dayna told police she had no idea where Bill was and was done answering questions, later telling Bill's friend and neighbor that he had left to spend time on a friend's property in Arizona. Loved ones, however, said Bill knew no one in the state.
Authorities also contacted Bill's phone subscriber to perform an emergency ping on his device, and they discovered that the last time the device was used was on December 29 near his house, not Arizona.
Investigators soon turned to Brian, who said that during one of his last conversations with his father, Bill discussed an odd encounter with Dayna. Bill said that Dayna had picked up a burger and milkshake for him, and after taking a bite, he passed out and woke up 15 hours later.
Bill then said, “I don't know if Dayna drugged me or what,” according to his son Brian.
Digging deeper into Dayna and Bill's relationship, authorities learned that while the father and daughter were close, problems had recently sprung up between the two. Dayna had trouble making rent and had started taking over the house as her own, resulting in frequent arguments.
Looking into Bill's bank records, they found several recent cash withdrawals from his account. The bank noted the signatures were not a match to Bill's; and that they had been filled out by Dayna.
This discovery, combined with her odd behavior and refusal to continue cooperating with the investigation, put her at the top of the suspect list.
Authorities then spoke with Dayna's ex-husband, Joel Jennings, who shared his suspicion that Bill was likely dead, and that Dayna might be involved in his disappearance.
“I think there was some sort of impropriety. I can't tell you if Bill was murdered, or if Bill died, and was disposed of for financial gain,” Joel told investigators.
He added that 2017 had been a particularly difficult year for Dayna, and that her massage business had gone under, calling his ex-wife “impulsive and unpredictable.”
With the evidence mounting against Dayna, authorities secured a search warrant for Bill's home and arrived the afternoon of January 10, 2018.
Police found that “We have a horrendous smell in the house. This is unbearable. You could not stay in the house without some type of face mask.”
Authorities isolated the source of stench in the basement behind a wooden board that had been placed across the entrance to a crawl space. There, they found an amateurishly laid slab of concrete, and the fire department was called in to break it apart with hammers and saws.
Below the slab, they found a human hand sticking out of a pile of trash and debris, and Dayna was quickly taken into custody. An autopsy confirmed the remains belonged to Bill.
While a standard toxicology report showed nothing suspicious in Bill's system, authorities subpoenaed Dayna's phone and laptop for more answers.
On December 9, Dayna had conducted a Google search on how long it takes bodies to decompose, and during a previous search, she looked up acepromazine, a dog and horse tranquilizer that she ordered off eBay in late November.
Authorities then had Bill's remains tested for acepromazine, and the results came back positive. He had been slipped a dose that was enough to tranquilize several horses. After his death his daughter drug his body to a crawl space in the basement. Dayna Jennings told investigators she then poured concrete into the crawlspace where Bill's remains were found.
Ms. Jennings was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with a deceased human body.
July 2019 — At trial, the defense argued that Dayna had bought the drug to help with Bill's health and sleeping issues. They claimed she had no intention of killing her father and that it was an accidental overdose. Once Bill died, they contended Dayna did not know what to do and buried him in basement.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued Dayna had murdered Bill in order to take over his home and finances.
On July 15, 2019, the jury returned with a verdict — Dayna Jennings was convicted for poisoning her father and encasing his body in concrete in a crawl space under his Federal Heights home. Ms. Jennings was found guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with a deceased human body. She was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
April 13, 2023 — The Colorado Court of Appeals overturned Dayna Jennings conviction stating that the warrant authorizing an unlimited search of Dayna Jennings' cell phone data was overly broad.
On appeal, Ms. Jennings argued the search warrant was unconstitutional and that the evidence of her Internet searches should have been suppressed. The government countered that in context, the full digital download was meant to be time-limited. In any event, police acted in good faith and they obtained the same information through later, valid search warrants, the Colorado Attorney General's Office elaborated — even though prosecutors had not made that argument in the trial court.
Her case was remanded to the trial court for a new trial.
Abstracted from article by Ellie Mulder, Colorado Springs Gazette, and other news stories
January 17, 2018 — Ta Tyana King, 22 was arrested Wednesday in the fatal stabbing of a boyfriend south of Colorado Springs in the Stratmoor Hills area, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office announced.
Jerwarren Donterious Jackson was found lying on the ground in the 1600 block of Hampton South outside their shared apartment about 3 AM, the Sheriff's Office said. He was taken to UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central, where he died.
The murder occurred after Mr. Jackson learned that Ms. King was sleeping with another man, and a “physical altercation” occurred inside their apartment when Mr. Jackson attempted to pack his clothes.
Ms. King told investigators that Mr. Jackson punched her in the face after learning of her infidelity, and that's when she stabbed him [ye old abuse excuse]. She said she used a piece of broken glass at first, but later said she used a knife.
Investigators obtained surveillance video from the apartment complex which shows the victim clutching his abdomen and looking backward as he exited the apartment. Ms. King could be seen walking after him holding a knife. One witness said she heard Mr. Jackson begging for his life, pleading to King, “Babe stop, please just stop.”
Witnesses said Ms. King followed Jackson outside and kicked him while he laid on the ground with the stab wound. She also admitted to investigators that she told Jackson she “hoped he died,” when he was on the ground.
Jerwarren Jackson was taken to Memorial Hospital where he later died.
Sheriff deputies found Ms. King and two witnesses nearby. After deputies interviewed the witnesses she was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. She might face additional charges, the Sheriff's Office said. but she apparently doesn't have a prior criminal history in Colorado.
On June 1, 2018, Ta Tyana, or Tatyana King pled guilty to second -degree murder in the heat of passion. She faces 10 to 32 years in prison.
Abstracted from article by Duffy Hayes, Grand Junction Sentinel
April 11, 2018
— Rebecca Walker, 34, girlfriend of 32-year-old Kyle Free locked him in the garage of her Clifton home, called someone to the house who shot Free multiple times, left him for dead, and enlisted the help of others to dispose of the body in the days after, according to investigators looking into Free's disappearance.
Ms. Walker and Free shared the home she owns at 455 1/2 Mesa Lake Street in Clifton, on the east side of Grand Junction. In early April, sheriff's deputies were called to the home on a report that Free was high on meth, hallucinating, and acting irrationally. Ms. Walker's children were removed from the home at that time.
Ms. Walker was granted a temporary restraining order from Free on April 10, and her friend, John Eddy, shot and killed Free in the early morning hours of April 11, according to the timeline of the case.
Rebecca Walker told investigators she called Eddy that day because Free “had been acting erratically” and they had been fighting. She said “she knew if she called John Eddy he would take care of (killing) Kyle,” according to Eddy's arrest record.
While waiting for Eddy to arrive, Rebecca locked the door to the garage so that Free, inside, could not get out. Eddy came to the home with his friend — nicknamed “ Silence ” — who was identified as David Castro, 32, of Clifton.
Ms. Walker said she waited in the living room, listened to Free yell something about how he hadn't done anything, and heard four gunshots.
After the men left, she “ looked in the garage and saw Kyle lying on the floor of the garage, 'wheezing', ” investigators wrote.
Then Walker says she locked the door so Free couldn't get out, and went to her mom's house.
Free's body stayed in the garage for a few days, with Rebecca Walker describing how she had to step over the body to get to a freezer with food in it. She enlisted the help of a friend to clean up the scene and dispose of evidence related to the killing.
In an effort to conceal his identity, Ms. Walker admitted to also using a spray paint can and lighter to make a torch and try to burn a tattoo off of Free's leg.
She waited a few days because Free's body was stiff from rigor mortis, but when the body loosened she was able to place it in large garbage bags. A layer of electrical tape was used to keep him in a fetal position. His corpse was then put into a 50-gallon tub lined with a camouflage tarp and closed with a lid.
Rebecca then got in touch with an acquaintance, Timothy “ Zane ” Russman, 28, via Facebook Messenger, sending the message, “ I need a hole. ” She added, “ Soon. Seriously. Not joking. ”
According to investigators, Russman and Nathan Ryan, 30, of Grand Junction, went to Rebecca Walker's home, loaded the tub into the bed of Russman's truck, then went to Russman's home and drank beer. Russman told investigators that the next day, he and Ryan drove to remote northeast Mesa County, dug a shallow grave, put the tub in it, and covered it with rocks.
Days before Free was reported missing, deputies went to Ms. Walker's home to serve Free with an arrest warrant. They did not find Free, but they did find Castro there, walking with a demonstrable limp due to a twenty-two caliber bullet lodged “ in his butt, ” according to deputies. Investigators believe Eddy unintentionally shot Castro in the rear end during the commission of the murder, but they only discovered the connection later in the investigation.
But the tub containing Kyle Free's body wasn't unearthed until December 5 after Russman was arrested and led investigators to the burial site.
In the months between April and December, investigators' trail led to Ms. Walker and Eddy, in part due to Eddy running his mouth off. Multiple people said Eddy outright admitted to killing Free, bragged about it, and showed numerous people apparent pictures of Free's bloody body.
Ms. Walker admitted to investigators that around the time of the crime she made many trips to a hardware store in Grand Junction where she had a running account because her grandparents own the business and her parents are the managers. Receipts show Rebecca Walker purchased a plastic locker, a saw, numerous cleaning supplies, bleach, muriatic acid and items like gloves, trash bags and tape. Some of those items were matched to those used to dispose of Free's body.
Following this, Rebecca Walker was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, was held without bond.
An arrest affidavit for the man who shot and killed Free, John Eddy, 25, was also issued. The affidavit describes Free's violent death, the wanton disregard for his body, the clumsy cleanup and disposal of his remains, and the dispassionate direction of the entire operation by Ms. Walker.
Soon after Rebecca Walker was taken into custody, Russman was arrested and on charges of accessory to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Russman's bond was set at $10,000 in cash or surety, and he posted it a short time later.
Eddy and Castro were also arrested and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Both were being held without bond, with Judge Bruce Raaum indicating that both men are facing a possible life sentence without parole or the death penalty.
Ryan was taken into custody in Iowa, and was held in Mills County, Iowa, on charges of accessory to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
In August 2019 Rebecca Kyle was sentenced to 51-years in prison for the murder of Kyle Free. Her co-conspirators were also convicted after being tried separately.
Abstracted from story by Angela Case, Fox21 News, and other news reports
May 3, 2018 — Army veteran Dionte Amon Harris, 22, was gunned down in his apartment at the Regal Estates, 105. S. Academy Blvd., shortly after 9 PM. Army records show Harris served as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic in 2014 and 2015 at Fort Carson.
Police said three Colorado Springs residents have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting. Cortez Lee-Read, 23, and Lakela Brasfield, 24, were arrested Friday in Pueblo. Austin Boyd, 22, was arrested Saturday in Colorado Springs.
Ms. Brasfield pled guilty in January 2019 to reckless manslaughter and accessory to murder. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed a second-degree murder count. She was sentenced to 14½ years in prison and will receive credit for 339 days in custody.
Austin Wayne Boyd was found guilty of second-degree murder, a Class 2 Felony, by a jury on August 22, 2019. Cortez Enriquez Lee-Read pled guilty was sentenced to 18 years in prison April 13, 2020, for second-degree murder but was given credit for 699 days in jail awaiting trial.
July 23, 2018
— Brittany Lyons, 25, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after a fatal shooting that happened early Monday morning.
Ms. Lyons was arrested after a man was fatally shot in a parking lot of Lamar's Donuts at West Sixth Avenue and Kalamath Street about 2:30 AM. The man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:51 AM. The identity of the victim has not been released.
When police arrived at the scene they found Ms. Lyons holding a 9 mm handgun with an empty cartridge stuck in the ejection port of the weapon.
Bullet holes were also seen in a vehicle parked in front of businesses on the southeast corner of the intersection.
Police said Ms. Lyons and the victim knew each other but are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Abstracted from article by Kaitlin Durbin, Colorado Springs Gazette
July 25, 2018
— Colorado Springs police said they found Brandon Watkins, age 33,
“unresponsive and bloody”
after his fiancé, Jacqueline Souza, 31, called 911 to 6310 Cabana Circle for an
“unknown urgent medical assist.”
Court records show that Army veteran Watkins was stabbed to death Saturday after arguing with his fiancé over suspected infidelity. A steak knife was on the kitchen table near his body.
Brandon Watkins' military records show he served as a food service specialist in the Army from 2010 to 2016, deploying once for three months to Iraq. He earned many commendations.
Police said Ms. Souza tried to explain his death in many conversations with them. Initially she told them she and Watkins were coming home early Saturday from a bar, where they were celebrating their upcoming Las Vegas wedding, and they started fighting about whether to invite a certain guest. Watkins was advocating to invite a woman he once had an affair with, and she suspected it was ongoing.
They continued fighting at home, but what happened there changes with each telling, police said in their report.
First, Souza said she came out of the bathroom to find Watkins with a knife sticking out of his chest and the sliding glass door open, but police said there was no indication the home had been broken into.
Then she said he might have stabbed himself in the chest because of their fight.
Police said when they pressed her a third time, she accused him of cheating with multiple women, which she said led Watkins to grab her by the throat and push her up against the wall of the garage. Back in the kitchen they continued “trading insults” until she told police Watkins picked up a steak knife and backed her up against the sink.
At one point Ms. Souza claimed Watkins held the knife to her face to scare her. She then corrected herself, stating that he did not threaten her. But to get him away from her, Jacqueline told police, she pushed Watkins in the chest and he fell down on top of the knife. After that she called 911 and administered CPR on Watkins until help arrived.
Police said Ms. Souza's accounts are not consistent with where Brandon Watkins' body was found or with a dark bruise “roughly the size of the butt end or finger grip portion of a steak knife” on her right, dominant hand.
Ms. Souza was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. She posted a $50,000 bond and was released Tuesday morning, an El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman said. She was scheduled for an appearance on the murder charge August 1 st . Court records show Jacqueline Souza did not have a criminal record but she was in the process of divorcing another man.
Abstracted from article by Ellie Mulder, Colorado Springs Gazette
November 5, 2019 — Luis Starkey Chavez, 17, was shot and killed on Deerfield Hills Road in southeast Colorado Springs. Two 16-year-olds, a boy and a girl, have been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in his killing.
Lured to his death by a girl he thought he was meeting for a date after boasting about having lots of money, Chavez's murder is a cautionary tale for teenagers who reveal too much to the wrong person online.
The suspects' names have not been released because of their ages and, as yet, they haven't been charged as adults. While police have released few details about the killing — and nothing about the motive — Chavez's older sister, mother and other relatives recently met with investigators to be updated on the case.
“Literally, Luis was perfect all the way around, his only flaw is he boasted a little bit,” said his sister, Rebecca Pietsch.
“He worked hard. He worked full time. So when he got his paycheck, he'd be quick to kind of flaunt it on Facebook to impress the other teenage girls, you know what I mean? He'd like to brag about that. Like, how many other 16- or 17-year-olds do you know that are pulling in $800, $900 checks every week? And he bragged about it to get the girls. He wasn't a virgin teenager, that's for sure.”
That bragging took the form of posting photos on his Facebook page of him fanning out large bills, $20s and $100s.
The online bragging made him an “easy target” — his sister said he'd been set up before by a girl who apparently wanted his money.
This time, when a girl reached out to Luis, Pietsch said, “she told my brother all he had to do was just bring her a little bit of weed, and she was home all alone. Their motive was robbery, so they just shot him in his head.”
Her brother likely didn't have more than $300 on him, Pietsch said. His grandmother had helped him open up a bank account, and he wanted to start saving up to buy a car.
“My grandma started putting that rule on him, like not to carry your full $900 cash on you after cashing your check,” Pietsch said. “He started depositing his money, so that's even the most stupidest part about it. If they would have caught him on a good day, yeah, they probably would have got $800 or $900 off of him, which still isn't worth a life, but that week, I think they only got like $300 off of him, tops.”
Abstracted from various news stories
November 27, 2018
— A 28-year-old woman is accused of killing her wife during a fight outside of their apartment complex near Palmer Park, an arrest affidavit shows.
Jamie Crawford was arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Candace R. Jones, 35.
The shooting happened around 9 PM outside an apartment on Knoll Lane, which is in the area of Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway. The victim died on the scene.
The suspect, 28-year-old Jamie Crawford of Colorado Springs, has been arrested on first-degree murder charges.
Abstracted from article by Leslie James, Colorado Springs Gazette and other sources
April 21, 2019 — Cordell Rosenburg was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound between the Applebee's and IHOP restaurants off Highway 85/87 in Fountain after a reported shooting around 10:15 PM.
Fernando Craig, 19, and Ms. Shawna Cowden, 20, were arrested about a week after the murder. Both pled guilty to second-degree murder. No motive for the killing was given.
Craig was sentenced to 45 years in prison, followed by five years mandatory parole. Ms. Cowden was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by five years of mandatory parole.
Abstracted from story by Kirk Mitchell, The Denver Post
April 25, 2019 — Paulette Beazhane Joyce, 21, shot and killed her former girlfriend, 20-year-old Alexus Emily Keith, while Ms Keith was on the phone with a Denver 911 dispatcher.
Ms. Joyce was charged with first-degree murder, the Denver District Attorney's Office said.
The charge against Ms. Joyce was direct filed into Denver District Court, Carolyn Tyler, spokeswoman for District Attorney Beth McCann, said. Alexus Keith was identified in the arrest warrant affidavit as an ex-girlfriend of Paulette Joyce's.
Ms. Keith was speaking with a dispatcher at 3:21 AM Thursday morning after making a 911 call that lasted about five minutes before her girlfriend, Paulette Joyce, shot and killed her. By the time police arrived, Ms. Keith's body was lying inside her apartment at 2718 W. 28th Ave, according to a Denver police arrest affidavit.
Before the shooting, Ms. Joyce and another woman, a witness who was not identified by name, had gone to Alexus Keith's apartment, where the shooting occurred. When they arrived “Ms. Joyce's belonging(s) were outside the apartment, in the hallway,” the affidavit said.
Ms. Joyce and the unnamed witness then went into Ms. Keith's apartment where Paulette got into a “heated” argument with the victim. The witness saw Ms. Joyce pointing a gun at Alexus Keith and “heard a gun shot,” according to the affidavit.
January 27, 2020
— Gannon Stauch, age 11,was reported missing by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch neé Hardin, 36. She initially told the El Paso County Sheriff's Office that he left home between 3:15 PM and 4 PM to walk to a friend's house, but never returned. The initial press release on his disappearance described him as a
“juvenile runaway.”
However, three days later, the sheriff's office reclassified his case as a missing or endangered person, citing new information and evidence.
A resulting search involved thousands of hours of investigation and hundreds of tips from the public. The FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the Colorado Springs Police Department assisted the sheriff's office in the case. Search teams used drones, dogs, horses, helicopters, and divers to comb through various areas of interest. Gannon's biological parents made emotional pleas for his safe return and thanked the community for their support.
On March 2, 2020, Letecia Stauch was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on charges of first-degree murder of a child by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence. She was extradited to Colorado and held without bond at the El Paso County jail.
According to the arrest affidavit, released on May 5, 2020, Letecia Stauch killed Gannon in his bedroom on the day he went missing. She stabbed him 18 times, hit him in the head with an object, and shot him with a handgun. She then cleaned up the crime scene and disposed of his body in a suitcase. She also lied to investigators about her whereabouts and activities on that day and afterwards. She claimed that Gannon was sick and stayed home from school that day, and drove to various places with him throughout the day. Surveillance footage from a neighbor showed that she left home with Gannon in her truck around 10:15 AM, and investigators believe she returned with him around 2:19 PM.
On March 17, 2020, Gannon's remains were found by a maintenance worker under Escambia Bay Bridge in Pace, Florida, more than 1,300 miles from his home. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, sharp force injuries, and a gunshot wound. Investigators believe that Letecia Stauch transported his body to Florida by driving there in a rented van after initially dumping his body in a remote location north of Colorado Springs and retrieving it later.
Letecia Stauch pled not guilty by reason of insanity and claimed that she had dissociative identity disorder due to childhood sexual abuse. She also accused her husband of being involved in Gannon's death and alleged that he had connections to drug cartels and sex trafficking rings.
However, she was found competent to stand trial by a state mental hospital and her other claims were dismissed by the court as unfounded.
Letecia's five week trial concluded on May 8, 2023. The prosecution's case included testimonies from Gannon's father, Letecia's former employers, family, investigators, forensic experts, and state psychiatrists. The defense offered Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a controversial psychiatrist who specializes in dissociative identity disorder, as their single witness.
The jury rejected both the insanity defense and Otnow Lewis' testimony; and Letecia Stauch was found guilty of all charges. The same day, she was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 156 years by Judge Gregory Werner, who called her actions “...the most horrific I have ever seen” and said that she deserved “the maximum sentence that I can impose according to Colorado law.”
Abstracted from story by Courtney Fromm, Fox21 News
January 28, 2020 — A deadly shooting happened in apartment #30 at the Haven at Valley Hi, 915 Teal Court. 41-year-old Marcus Hardin of Colorado Springs was found dead inside the apartment.
Officers detained 30-year-old Erica Arellano, Hardin's girlfriend. An arrest warrant for Ms. Arellano was then issued, charging her with second-degree murder. She was booked into the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center and her bond was set at $50,000.
In the arrest papers, Ms. Arellano said that in the morning she was in an argument with Hardin about their relationship, and he wouldn't let her leave to pick up her kids from school. She told police Hardin held the door closed keeping her from leaving their apartment. She said he hit her over the top of her head with a “pre work out shaker bottle,” which caused her to fall to the ground. Erica said he continued to hit her with the bottle until it busted open, causing her to get wet, then she said he repeatedly hit her with a fist. She told police she crawled away from the front door to the living room where she stood up and “just shot two fires” Hardin then fell bleeding and she called 911.
Abstracted from article by Andrew McMillan, KRDO TV and other sources
March 18, 2020
— Police responded to a reported shooting in the 6900 block of Winter Hawk Circle in the Rockrimmon area of Colorado Springs. They found that the shooter, 54-year-old Amee Anderson, claimed she had killed her husband in self-defense.
Dispatch got the call from Amee around 5:45 AM. She was reportedly hysterical, and it was hard to obtain information from her, but she said she shot her husband in self defense at their home.
When officers arrived they found her laying on the living room floor with injuries to her hand, including cuts to a finger, between her knuckles, and on her left forearm. They also found her husband, 62-year-old James Gregory “Greg” Anderson, dead on the floor in the master bedroom next to a handgun.
Amee told investigators that things were normal the day before the shooting, but she mentioned that her husband became agitated when she declined to smoke medical marijuana with him. She then went to bed shortly before 11 PM. She told police it was normal for him to fall asleep in his recliner and then join her in bed later.
Amee told police she was woken up by “ fidgeting ” from Greg's side of the bed and him loudly screaming. Amee says that Greg's neck was bleeding and he was holding a “ large hunting style knife, ” that she struggled to get control over, which led to the cuts on her hand and arm.
Amee claimed she then went to the living room to call 911 but she heard a crash after Greg had fallen. She helped him to the bed and when she returned with the phone, Greg had a handgun on the bed — Amee told the detective she took the gun and stepped back to the doorway of the bedroom.
Greg reportedly continued to yell at Amee, and she said he threatened harm to her and the family pets. Amee also told police that Greg was “ blaming the coronavirus and stating he was not going to live through it. ”
When Greg stood up and took one step forward, Amee shot him two or three times, according to the affidavit. She then called 911 and passed out shortly after police arrived.
But as her story unfolded, investigators quickly realized that Mrs. Anderson had another option instead of shooting her husband.
The detective questioned why Amee didn't just leave the bedroom since she had a weapon and a phone, and Greg apparently had limited mobility. She told the detective that she was “ just scared ” and said, in hindsight, she should have left.
After consulting with a senior deputy district attorney, Colorado Springs police arrested her on a first-degree murder charge and said her claim of self-defense “ is not valid. ” The charge also constitutes domestic violence, according to the affidavit.
Amee Anderson was booked into the El Paso County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.
Abstracted in part from article by Gina Tron
April 28, 2020 — Bridget Kenner, 44, was discovered dead inside her home on Banning Lewis Ranch following a welfare check, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Details about Bridget Kenner's death were not released but it is known that Ms. Kenner worked as a registered nurse at Centura Health. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the news regarding Bridget's death,” spokesperson Wendy Forbes told Oxygen.com in a statement. “Our Centura - Penrose - St. Francis family sends our deepest condolences to her family and friends across the community. Bridget was a registered nurse with our team and we shall miss her.”
That same day, homicide detectives arrested Cohen Heath, 19 — a transgender woman who is also known as Vinn Heath — as well as her transgender son, Emma “Kenny” Kenner.
Cohen Heath, who stabbed his own mother's cat to death after hearing voices, was now accused of killing Bridget Kenner.
Heath openly mused about killing people around the same time he was accused of killing his mother's cat last September. After his mother found her beloved pet dead inside a gift bag, Health allegedly admitted to skinning and mutilating the feline to investigators, local outlet KKTV reported at the time.
Heath revealed he was high on meth last fall and hearing voices which instructed him to kill something. Heath, then 18, claimed that he wanted to kill a friend who was at his home, and then his mother — but ultimately decided that killing the cat would be more doable, investigators said, according to KKTV.
The teen was accused of taking the cat outside and stabbing it repeatedly before cutting off a paw to make a necklace, according to previous reports. He then allegedly skinned the animal and put its remains into a paper gift bag — where the remains were ultimately uncovered by Heath's mother.
At the time, Heath was charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals and was released last October after a $1,000 bond was posted. But he failed to show up to court for appearances related to the charge, according to KKTV.
He/she had an active warrant for a failure to appear when he was arrested last week, according to online jail records.
Now he is being charged with first-degree murder in connection with Bridget Kenner's death. Her son was also been charged with first-degree murder.
Kenner's son was a juvenile at the time and was booked into a juvenile hall while Heath was booked into the El Paso County Jail. Heath is being held on a $506,000 bond, according to online jail records. It is not clear if Heath has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Emma Kenner pled guilty to stabbing her/his mother and was sentenced to 40 years in prison on January 7, 2022. Cohen Heath was found guilty of first-degree murder under the complicity theory. She/he was also convicted of felony murder, robbery, and two counts of tampering, one specifically involving a corpse stemming from acts committed shortly after the murder that were recorded by Emma Kenner. For his part in this gruesome case, Cohen Heath was sentenced to life in prison.
Abstracted from story in the Colorado Springs Gazette and other sources
July 22, 2020 — Gilbert Sandoval, 83, was discovered dead inside his residence at 518 Custer Avenue in Colorado Springs. Beside the slain man's body was a cracked and bloodstained baseball bat.
Investigators later learned that his murder was part of a plan dreamed up by his wife, Marcella Sandoval, 77, and their son, attorney Patrick Joseph Sandoval, 55, AKA Jean-Joseph Danger Le Chiffre — who had legally changed his name in an ode to the James Bond villain from “ Casino Royale ” — to kill Gilbert Sandoval and take his inheritance money.
Marcella and Gilbert Sandoval owned numerous homes in Colorado Springs. Although their net worth wasn't disclosed, Le Chiffre was apparently concerned that his father had improperly drained $1.5 million from a retirement account belonging partly to his mother, one of several financial accounts to which she had access.
Further, according to Mrs. Sandoval, her son Le Chiffre learned several months before the killing that he had been entirely cut out of his father's will. “ He was very upset, ” his mother later testified in response to a question about how her son felt about being removed from the will. Being cut out of the will was the spark that eventually resulted in the plan to kill Gilbert Sandoval.
Le Chiffre and his mother plotted to lure Gilbert Sandoval to one of the family's homes, where her son would kill him, and Mrs. Sandoval would tell police that she was attacked; and claim that she killed her husband in an act of self-defense. This was all in their plot for Marcella Sandoval to acquire her estranged husband's inheritance and split it with her son.
Gilbert Sandoval had a restraining order filed against him by Marcella Sandoval in May 2019. As bait for their trap, she told her husband months before his death that she would like to do away with the restraining order. Gilbert Sandoval initially wished to meet at a local park to sign the paperwork, but Le Chiffre asked to instead meet at a family home to facilitate their murder plot.
Their plan took shape at the beginning of “COVID times” and evolved until she and her son met a final time for planning the day before the attack.
When Gilbert Sandoval came to the house, Le Chiffre was hiding. Marcella ran her hand across the keys of a piano as a signal to her son before she sent her husband into the basement, as they had planned. After beating his father to death with the baseball bat, Le Chiffre used a knife to cut his mother's hands and arm, before leaving the knife next to the body. Marcella was to say her husband came at her with the knife and she killed him with the baseball bat in self defense.
On the day of the murder, Marcella Sandoval initially stuck with the story that she was the killer, but she later balked and agreed to become a witness for the state, police said. Among the obvious flaws in her initial story was her frail health. The woman was so unsteady on the day of the slaying that two officers had to escort her around her house to prevent her from falling.
Le Chiffre was arrested Friday, August 28, 2020, for Murder in the First Degree and a jury convicted him of that crime on June 6, 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Marcella Sandoval, turned herself in at the El Paso County Jail. In exchange for her cooperation, including testimony against her son at trial, she was charged with accessory to murder. She pled guilty in November 2020 and was sentenced to two years on probation.
Abstracted from story by Leslie James and Breeana Jent, Colorado Springs Gazette
September 15, 2020 — A long-simmering dispute involving arguments and physical fights ended with gunfire that left an 83-year-old woman dead in a bathtub and a 58-year-old woman in jail, El Paso County Sheriff's deputies said in court papers.
Sheriff's deputies responded Saturday morning just before 11 AM to reports of an active shooter at a home in the 1600 block of Maxwell Street in Stratmoor Hills. When deputies arrived, they found Rhaiyanna Earley, 58, in the home covered in blood. She was taken into custody before deputies found Christine Rush, 83, in the bathtub, dead from a gunshot wound.
Ms. Earley also fired several shots at John Elrod, the homeowner with whom she was in an on-again, off-again relationship. One witness told deputies they saw Ms. Earley shoot at Mr. Elrod at least three times as she chased him out of the home. She reportedly had a history of drinking and harassing members of the household.
Mr. Elrod told deputies he was inside the home when he heard a gunshot, then he saw Ms. Earley standing in the hallway holding a gun. He said he ran when he saw the weapon.
Surveillance cameras at neighboring homes recorded audio of the shooting, in which Ms. Earley can be heard yelling at Mr. Elrod to “keep running” and fired at least five more gunshots, but John Elrod was not injured.
He told detectives he had a relationship with Rhaiyanna Earley for several years and she had moved into the home about two months ago. Mr. Elrod said he broke up multiple physical fights between Christine Rush and Rhaiyanna Earley and that on the morning of the shooting Ms. Earley and Ms. Rush had been fighting.
In the weeks leading up to the shooting, Ms. Earley had been stealing personal items from members inside the household to harass them, according to the arrest affidavit. Mr. Elrod was trying to get Ms. Earley to move out and even offered some financial assistance, deputies said.
Rhaiyanna Earley is facing first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the killing of Christine Rush and for shooting at John Elrod.
Abstracted from article by Tracy Harmon, The Pueblo Chieftain
October 27, 2020
— A 32-year-old local woman pled not-guilty to charges she faces in a first-degree murder case following a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Fremont County District Court.
Shera Marie Carter, 32, is charged with first-degree murder, felony menacing, violation of bail conditions, violation of a protection order and a crime of violence sentencing enhancer in connection with the May 2 shooting death of Coty Bass, 33, of Canon City. Fremont County District Court Judge Ramsey Lama held her for trial after finding there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed on the charges of first-degree murder, felony menacing and violation of bail conditions.
According to the testimony of Fremont County Sheriff's Office Detective Dathan Gall, he responded to the shooting at 2190 Washington St. where he observed a blood trail leading from the dumpster area, a spent shell casing and an unspent cartridge laying on the ground.
Detective Gall testified that Shera Carter's wife, Veronica Carter, 29, reported that Shera Carter and Mr. Bass were arguing because he had borrowed a vehicle from the couple and kept it longer than he was supposed to. When the couple recovered the vehicle several of Bass's personal items were inside.
Ms. Carter reportedly threw Mr. Bass's items in a dumpster because she was angry that the couple's 9-year-old found used syringes inside a backpack, according to Detective Gall's testimony of his interview with Veronica Carter.
As Bass was attempting to recover his items from the dumpster he and Shera Carter began yelling at each other.
Veronica Carter told Gall that Bass was yelling at her “You (expletive) up this is the end of you...you are dead,” according to Gall's testimony. Ms. Carter reported responded by telling Bass, “Stop wrecking my family,” Gall reported during cross-examination questioning from Public Defender Adam Tunink.
Detective Gall was able to recover video surveillance footage from a neighbor. He testified the footage revealed, “When he (Bass) first starts to walk in her direction, he is pointing at her.”
Witness Adrianne Leach testified she heard the two yelling back and forth at each other then heard Shera Carter yell, “Come at me bro,” Leach said.
Leach said Coty Bass, looked “under the influence and very angry,” as he came up to Shera Carter who was standing on or near the porch of her mobile home. He then turned and walked away and “she followed him,” she said.
Shera Carter later can be seen pointing a gun toward Bass's back. The video then shows, “him taking a couple small steps toward her patting his chest,” Detective Gall testified. “He then puts his open hands down. Nothing is observed in his hands...After the firearm goes off he turns and runs.”
A neighbor reported hearing a pop followed by the victim beating on the door or side of her trailer calling for help. The witness said she could see Bass collapse in her driveway.
The time that Shera Carter was pointing the weapon at the victim was “around 20 seconds,” Gall said. The gun “was raised high and pointed at his head or chest level.” The video showed Shera Carter's truck driving by and leaving the area. She later turned herself in to authorities that evening.
Another witness, Miles Cagle, testified that Bass's body language was aggressive and he feared Bass would strike Shera Carter. He yelled at Coty Bass and told him to get out of the trailer park.
An autopsy concluded Coty Bass died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
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