Jason Grimmer, sixteen, was killed by a hit-and-run driver this past New Year’s Eve in a troubling incident that resulted in the arrest and subsequent release of a suspect and lawsuit threats over alleged police bungling. Meanwhile, though, the person responsible for his death remains at large and unpunished. Now,…
Back in September, we told you about the arrest of youth pastor and musician Jason Roberson for child sex assault, after a former church member accused him of an inappropriate relationship that lasted seven years, beginning when she was fifteen; see our previous coverage below. Now, five church officials have…
Last night, sexually violent predator Gregory Buerge was arrested mere hours after the Lakewood Police Department put out an alert revealing that his whereabouts were unknown. In the opinion of Detective Ryan McKone, LPD spokesman, Buerge didn’t go off the radar due to an oversight. “It appears to us that…
In February, shortly before the Colorado Rockies’ season got underway, first baseman Todd Helton was busted for drunk driving. Helton wound up retiring at the end of the mediocre campaign, and now, Rockies co-owner Charlie Monfort has been taken into custody on suspicion of the same crime. Monfort and his…
About a year and a half ago, before he made headlines for allegedly kidnapping an eight-year-old girl in Aurora, John Snorsky contacted me. He’d read a story I’d written about a state law that would allow counties to place abused kids at a facility for juvenile delinquents, and he wanted…
It was one of the most shocking crimes in Loveland this past summer — a July triple stabbing in which forty-year-old Stephanie Rose Smith died. The case seemed to make little progress over the months that followed, even though it seemed clear the authorities knew the identifies of the other…
The 1999 Columbine shootings continue to cast a long shadow over schools nationwide, but especially in the Denver area. Case in point: The national media immediately perked up at news overnight that two juveniles with long guns had apparently broken into not one but two local schools and were involved…
The flooding in Boulder County may not be dominating newscasts the way it did back in September, but plenty of people in the area are still in recovery mode — and many of them are plenty stressed, as illustrated by a recent incident on a road still accessible only to…
The arrest of Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov for allegedly beating girlfriend Evgeniya Vavrinyuk is a story that naturally falls into both the news and sports categories. As such, it’s also been a major topic on sports-talk radio — and on Friday, ESPN Denver and 104.3/The Fan took vastly different…
Late last month, we wrote about a sweeping police search for the man accused of pulling an eight-year-old girl through the window of her Aurora bedroom; see our previous coverage below. Now, police believe they’ve got their man: John Snorsky, 26, a fledgling artist photographed in zombie makeup by Westword…
We don’t usually associate online slide shows with police departments. But the PD in Boulder has posted the equivalent of one in relation to the recent arrest of sex offender Eugene Martinez, rounded up after he’d managed to escape from Denver police headquarters. Boulder cops found lotsa items after taking…
Yesterday, we told you about the arrest of Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov on charges that he beat and stomped his girlfriend; see our previous coverage below. Now, we have much more information about the case, including an arrest report detailing the alleged brutality in chilling detail, comments from his…
In October 2012, we told you about the extradition of Consuelo Zavala for the brutal execution of Francisco Gasca circa 1997. Location: a Weld County onion field. The police report said Gasca had been shot eight times, including five bullets in the head, but in the year since then, this…
The Colorado Avalanche has been a mediocre team in recent years, but since Patrick Roy took over as coach, the squad has been on a tear, with a 10-1 record to open the season. But the latest news about the Avs is far less happy. Semyon Varlamov, a goalie who’s…
The Denver-based Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking has released fourteen recommendations to strengthen Colorado’s response to human trafficking. Among them: form a statewide group of prosecutors focused on trafficking, create a prevention campaign targeted at vulnerable populations, and encourage the development of local coalitions dedicated to the issue. The recommendations…
Shortly after his arrival in the Colorado prison system, a mentally stable teenager named Sam Mandez landed in solitary confinement for a series of minor rules infractions. He soon began to experience auditory hallucinations and other signs of mental illness, and his erratic behavior made it impossible for him to…
In July, we published an item headlined “Jeffrey Johnston, veteran Littleton cop — and ecstasy dealer on the side?” The answer to that question is “yes.” And the person confirming it is Johnston himself. The now-former officer has pleaded guilty to two charges in relation to his bust earlier this…
Back in May, we told you about DNA evidence that led to charges against Dony Salazar for a rape that took place back in 2000. Now, improved DNA technology has resulted in a bust for an even older crime — the sexual assault of a fourteen year old way back…
If you happened to tune into cable news or talk radio or any other variety of media late last week for the first time in fourteen or fifteen years, you might think things were stuck in an endless loop. There was that harpy Nancy Grace, grilling forensic whiz Henry Lee…
If there’s one type of person we should be able to rely on in this crazy world of ours, it’s a guy we met online who wants to buy a monkey. Okay, maybe not, as a Missouri woman learned the hard way. Police say the woman was pepper sprayed and…
Update: Since we told you about the attempted kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl from her Aurora bedroom early yesterday morning (see our previous coverage below), local authorities have made the still-unknown perpetrator their highest priority. In addition to releasing a sketch of the suspect in conjunction with a press conference…
Late last night, a report of shots fired in Commerce City resulted in an ugly accident. Specifically, a train hit and dragged a car that the shooting suspects had used in a failed attempt to escape. Although three people have been arrested, there are a lot of unanswered questions at…
