Email Author Karen Bowers

1996 Stories by Karen Bowers

• Black Marks

  published December 19, 1996

  Quentin Jones's cheek pressed into the grit of the asphalt parking lot. His head was immobilized by the nightstick a cop had jammed into his neck,... More >>

• Shot Down in Flames

  published November 28, 1996

  A federal jury took just one hour earlier this month to decide that former Denver deputy sheriff Trina Burks-Richardson should receive nothing in... More >>

• The Beaten Path

  published November 21, 1996

  It took years for Mary, a native of Peru, to escape the brutality and fear that her life in Denver had become. She finally worked up the nerve two... More >>

• Full Court Press

  published November 21, 1996

  Denver law enforcement authorities have long feared that the Oklahoma City bombing trial might attract riffraff, troublemakers whose presence in... More >>

• Con Jobs

  published November 14, 1996

  Politicians' claims to the contrary, Colorado's business climate isn't all blue skies and sunshine. Just ask the folks at Juniper Valley Products,... More >>

• She Fired, They Fired

  published October 24, 1996

  It's been five years, one federal trial and at least $30,000 since the Denver Sheriff's Department fired deputy Trina Burks-Richardson for... More >>

• Terrible Two

  published October 10, 1996

  In the weeks before her adopted son died, Greeley business owner Renee Polreis told friends she had come to fear David. Where others saw a... More >>

• Public Enemy Number No. $1

  published September 19, 1996

  Seven years ago, the Colorado legislature passed a law designed to put the bite on convicted criminals. The concept was sterling: to force... More >>

• If Books Could Kill...

  published September 12, 1996

  The families of three Maryland murder victims lost the first round in a wrongful-death suit against Boulder's Paladin Press, but their attorneys... More >>

• Feeling No Pain

  published August 29, 1996

  Former Fort Morgan pharmacist and self-confessed morphine addict Andrew Komesu was lucky to get out of Colorado with little more than a slap on... More >>

• Older but Bitter

  published August 22, 1996

  Colorado Springs babysitter Wanda Crawford was 66 years old in 1994 when she was found guilty of shaking a nine-month-old infant so... More >>

• The Wheels of Justice

  published August 8, 1996

  When a Colorado prison inmate brought suit against the Department of Corrections four years ago alleging discrimination against disabled inmates... More >>

• Stealing Time

  published August 1, 1996

  The Insiders It's not easy getting old in prison. But in Colorado, it's getting easier. The number of elderly felons being held in... More >>

• The Committed

  published July 25, 1996

  The Insiders There is a private garden in the Colorado prison system, a place where convicted killers can tend flowers and summer... More >>

• Schmitz Happens

  published June 13, 1996

  One day last week, LoDo artist Jorg "Peter" Schmitz accompanied his girlfriend, Ingrid Pfennig, on a shopping trip to the Cherry Creek Mall. "He... More >>

• I Know Nothing

  published May 30, 1996

  I'm doing a good job of being disappearing," LoDo artist Jorg "Peter" Schmitz says in lilting, German-accented English. He sounds proud of the... More >>

• Candid Cameras

  published May 2, 1996

  Faculty members at the University of Oklahoma journalism school are split over Melissa Klinzing's decision to leave an Oklahoma City television... More >>

• Hasta la Vista, Lupe

  published May 2, 1996

  Employees say Guadalupe "Lupe" Salinas occasionally walked around Denver's Social Security Administration office downtown crowing about his job... More >>

• Cruising the Webb

  published April 18, 1996

  When Mayor Wellington Webb's stepson Keith Thomas clipped a parked car March 31 and kept on driving, it wasn't the first time he'd "hit and run,"... More >>

• Model Behavior

  published April 11, 1996

  Susan Crenshaw, the former co-host of Channel 9's Good Afternoon, Colorado had a less than perfect day last August 18. That's when she allegedly... More >>

• In a Family Way

  published April 4, 1996

  Randolph Kelly's house is full of family photos. They're stacked on the television and on tables; they cover the walls. On the north side of the... More >>

• Social Insecurity

  published March 28, 1996

  Guadalupe "Lupe" Salinas was controversial long before he was appointed to head up Denver's regional Social Security Administration office in... More >>

• Death Sentences

  published March 21, 1996

  Some people would say that the hit man is an emotionless, cold-blooded killing machine; that he has no fear and no belief in God. On the contrary,... More >>

• Reversal of Fortune

  published March 7, 1996

  After eighteen months of cops, courts and attorneys, Sue Smith is back at square one. And she's damn glad to be there. A new trial has been... More >>

• Labor Pangs

  published March 7, 1996

  The people believe that employees should have a voice," says Jerry Beers. As area director for the American Federation of State, County and... More >>