In the moments after its appearance in an announcement by the Denver coroner’s office, the name Jose Frias-Olivas didn’t score a single hit when surrounded by quotation marks for a Google search. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case — because Frias-Olivas has been identified as the victim of a weekend homicide…
Once again, the tranquility of an early morning in Denver has been shattered by gunfire. In the latest incident, a man was found shot — and while emergency responders raced him to a nearby hospital, he didn’t survive the wounds. Moreover, investigators have released no suspect information at this writing…
It could have been so much worse. Early yesterday morning, Jazmine Ramos, eleven, was shot outside her home on 47th Avenue between Race and High streets in the Elyria Swansea neighborhood — the apparent victim of a stray bullet. Fortunately, Jazmine was struck in the leg rather than another more vulnerable…
If they’re convicted, Alese Silva and Ivan Lopez could be put away for quite a long time over a crime that netted a very small reward: a car they drove for only a short distance and $80 in cash. The pair are accused of kidnapping two people over this sum…
Last night, gunfire erupted in an apartment complex in Aurora. When police arrived, the victim, who’d been hit multiple times, was still alive. Unfortunately, he subsequently succumbed to his injuries according to an Aurora Police Department announcement shared early this morning. And at this writing, law enforcers haven’t released any…
Brandon Davis probably thought he’d made a nice little score. All he had to do was drive a friend from Texas to Colorado and back and he’d be paid $500, plus gas, food and drinks. But this sweet deal quickly turned sour. As documented in a probable cause statement on…
The most recent personal photo Shandrea Bowie posted on her Facebook page shows her with Dydrick Martin, her significant other. The accompanying caption reads, “Me and my baby on the Fourth of July on our anniversary.” Less than a month later, the celebration was over and Bowie was behind bars…
The last time Teri Font saw her longtime friend Sam Forgy, he was relaxed and in a mood to celebrate. The 22-year-old University of Colorado student had just completed an intensive math course and was looking forward to the start of the fall semester and a prestigious internship that involved…
Last November, we introduced you to Eric Brandt, who’s well-known in the metro area for riding a bicycle while displaying a giant hand, complete with extended middle finger, that’s emblazoned with the phrase “FUCK COPS.” At the time, Brandt’s attorney, David Lane, had just filed a lawsuit against the City…
Last year, at least seven Denver police officers got into trouble. Now, Denver Police Department Officer Lane Gardner has joined their number by way of an arrest for assault. The victim: Jennifer Jaidinger, a fellow DPD officer — and Gardner’s fiancee. Days after the attack, Jaidinger appeared on camera in at…
The exercise in mass hysteria known as the Salem witch trials lasted little more than a year. Nineteen people were hanged, and one was pressed to death with rocks. Hundreds of others, mostly women, were accused of practicing the dark arts but spared execution. Fifty of them confessed to being…
Yesterday, we told you about the bias-motivated-crime arrest of Christopher Derby, who stands accused of having punched a woman in the face because she’s African-American. Jhane Toney, a 21-year-old African-American woman, has been charged with the same crime for a separate incident. In her case, however, she allegedly attacked the victims because…
The national focus on the Aurora theater shooting trial, and the still-pending question of whether convicted killer James Holmes will be sentenced to death, has overshadowed another capital case that would likely be the biggest story in the Denver area under other circumstances. The crime in question: the five slayings…
James Holmes will spend the rest of his life in prison. On Friday, three and a half months after Holmes’s trial began, a jury of nine women and three men delivered his punishment. Judge Carlos Samour read the verdicts just after 5 p.m. They were all the same. “We, the…
A teenager dies a violent death in a busy part of Denver — and the incident makes hardly a ripple in the media. Why? That’s a complicated question, and the answers aren’t typically discussed in polite company. But the likeliest possibilities are these: The victim, seventeen-year-old Jorge Lopez-Ramirez, was Hispanic;…
In recent months, we’ve written a number of times about what’s known as “suicide by cop.” Such incidents find suicidal individuals such as Aurora’s Patrick Stoltz apparently trying to goad law enforcers into ending their lives, much to the cops’ frustration. Representatives of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office use this term…
It’s the latest grim twist in a crime that’s consumed Aspen for well over a year — the murder of socialite Nancy Pfister. William Styler, a former Denver doctor in poor physical condition, confessed to killing Pfister, thereby exonerating his wife, Nancy Pfister, who’d previously been charged in the homicide…
Next month the Colorado Judicial Department will start charging interest on the court-ordered restitution that state prisoners owe to crime victims — a surcharge that was supposed to be imposed across the state under a law passed fifteen years ago, but which officials in many judicial districts neglected to collect…
Yesterday, we told you about the cancellation of the Lozilu Denver mud run, slated for later this month, as well as other similar events sponsored by the organization in major cities across the country. In our post, we noted the unhappiness of numerous people who’d hoped to participate and a…
During the early morning hours, gunshots rang out on Iliff Avenue. Three people were shot, with one said to have suffered a life-threatening wound. The location offered up by the Aurora Police Department corresponds to McDonough’s Irish Pub, a watering hole known for its bargain-priced libations. The address in question…
Last year, we told you about the search for Colorado Springs’ Bionca Rogers, then 21, after she’d been named in arrest warrant relating to the death of Grant Frazier, 61. Frazier’s body was found in a car in Iowa, the state from which Rogers hailed. Rogers subsequently surrendered to Iowa…
A new study concludes that race and geography play a significant role in whether a criminal defendant faces the death penalty in Colorado, providing hard-numbers support to the objections about bias raised by Governor John Hickenlooper two years ago when he granted a reprieve from execution for convicted killer Nathan…
