One of the earliest entries in our Mile High Murder archive involves a May 2009 arson-related murder in Aurora that led to the arrests of Douglas Taylor and Coy Dunn. The victim in the case was subsequently identified as Jose De Jesus Martinez Espinoza. More than a year later, Taylor…
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has announced the bust of an alleged nine-member drug ring, in which suspects such as Ramon Chavez and Gabriel Farias-Chavez are said to have transported up to fifty pounds of meth per month from Mexico into Colorado. Their storage container of choice? Working car batteries…
On Saturday, Joseph Owen Coy was accused of a racially motivated attack on Olubiyi Ogundipe for allegedly punching the Nigeria-born CU student amid slurs about monkeys and worse — but Boulder Police didn’t know if Coy’s two companions would face similar charges. Now, one of them — Zachrey Harris, 21…
Dr. Louis Hampers, the Children’s Hospital ER doctor charged with writing 654 fake prescriptions, appeared for the first time in a Colorado court today after being arrested in Virginia on September 7. At a 2 p.m. hearing, Magistrate Judge Kathleen Tafoya denied him bail…
Back in February, Nicholas Lorenzo was accused of stroking his meat while behind a meat counter at a Louisville Safeway. Today, he was reportedly sentenced to five years probation, 48 hours community service and a spot on the sex-offender registry — hefty punishment for what was presumably only a few…
David Rangel, the third area teacher busted for alleged improper relations with students in four months, appeared in Weld County District Court yesterday, where bond was set at a whopping $100,000. That’s a big number for a guy who told police that while he kissed and groped a teenage student,…
A new government study has found that texting leads to lots of preventable traffic fatalities due to distracted driving. But at least the technology provides evidence against teachers accused of having sexual relationships with students. Note that yesterday’s arrest of David Anthony Rangel, a language-arts teacher at Greeley’s Jefferson High…
Nadine Montoya has been convicted of murdering a 49-year-old Aurora woman in a hit-and-run at a Burger King last May. Montoya, 27, will likely serve life in prison for crushing Lilian Verdonkschot with her Cadillac deVille and then fleeing the scene. The altercation started when Verdonkschot, her daughter and her…
Yesterday, we told you about the arrest of Joseph Owen Coy on racially motivated crime charges involving Nigeria-born CU student Olubiyi Ogundipe near Boulder’s Hookah House. Now the Boulder Police Department has tracked down Coy’s two companions that evening, and the city manager has released a statement decrying the crime…
In recent years, the 1987 murder of Fort Collins’s Peggy Hettrick has been mentioned most often in relation to Tim Masters, who was improperly convicted of the crime, leading to settlements totaling $10 million. But the case remains unsolved — which makes word of new evidence especially welcome…
Over the years, SWAT teams have been called for a variety of loony reasons. But Sunday may have been the first time that a squad was dispatched to deal with a guy on the roof of a school allegedly hurling rocks and chunks of cinderblocks at cops. John Gage, take…
Early Saturday, an altercation took place near Boulder’s Hookah House, at 1325 Broadway. And Boulder Police believe what took place constitutes a racially motivated crime — hence, the accusations against Lafayette’s Joseph Owen Coy, who’s said to have called CU student Olubiyi Ogundipe and a friend “monkeys” and other racial…
Here’s guessing that two lugs currently wanted by the Weld County Sheriff’s Office won’t be getting a membership invite from Mensa anytime soon. True, they were smart enough to get inside a Keenesburg bank. Problem was, they couldn’t figure out how to get any money out, leaving them to terrorize…
If information provided to the Denver Police Department is accurate, Tracy Lee Ottaway qualifies as the customer from hell. Ottaway’s been charged with attempted first-degree murder over an incident at Cherry Creek JW Marriott in which he allegedly tried to use an SUV to run over a valet who two…
The Denver District Attorney’s Office isn’t release the name of a seventeen-year old who’s been charged with child abuse resulting in death. But it’s sharing information about alleged negligence that allowed his eleven-month-old cousin to die. The accusation: The teenager left the tot and her sibling unattended and went to…
Cold cases from 1984 in Lakewood and Aurora have just heated up. DNA evidence now suggests that the same person who killed Patricia Louise Smith in January of that year also slew three members of the Bennett family — parents Bruce and Debra, and their daughter Melissa, age seven –…
In August 2009, former Mormon church lay bishop Shawn Merriman earned Shmuck of the Week honors for Ponzi scheming millions from friends and acquaintances. But yesterday, he was awarded with an even more richly deserved prize: a twelve-and-a-half-year prison jolt, plus an order to pay $20.1 million in restitution. Will…
Much has been made of several high-profile incidents of alleged police brutality involving the Denver PD, culminating in the resignation of Denver Manager of Safety Ron Perea. Number crunchers even suggest Denver’s number-one for excessive-force complaints. But while the focus may be on Denver, the incidents may be tied to…
What the hell’s going on around here lately? Hot on the heels of Michael Wade Jackson’s arrest in the slaying of Mohamed Abushahma and a shooting near a condo in Aurora, we’re learning about the discovery of two dead bodies — one male, one female — in a Thornton apartment…
More fatal violence in Aurora. Just days after the arrest of Michael Wade Jackson in the death of Mohamed Abushahma comes word of another shooting last night, with a thus-far-unnamed man found near a condo complex later succumbing to his wounds. Look below for the Aurora Police release on the…
Aurora Police have confirmed reports about the principals in a weekend killing: Michael Wade Jackson is being held for investigation of homicide in the slaying of Mohamed Abushahma, who’s said to have been his longtime friend. Also critically injured in the altercation was Abushahma’s seventeen-year-old son, who had to be…
What started as a late-night drive-thru run last May for 49-year-old Lilian Verdonkschot, her daughter and her daughter’s friend turned tragic when Verdonkschot was hit by the driver of a Cadillac DeVille. The last thing Verdonkschot’s daughter heard before her mother was crushed under the Cadillac’s tires was, “Let’s just…
