Governor Bill Ritter’s modest proposal to parole hundreds of inmates a few weeks or months before their mandatory release date, thereby cutting millions from the state budget, has become the political whipping boy for his most opportunistic critics, from GOP legislators to Weld County District Attorney (and Senate candidate) Ken…
The man who died of multiple gunshot wounds at the Garden Court apartments, 1150 N. Syracuse Street, on Friday has been identified as Keyru Mustafa Lolo, 24, a recent immigrant from Ethiopia. The Denver Police Department is offering a reward of up to $2,000 to anyone with “information on this…
View Larger Map On Friday evening, shots rang out at 1150 N. Syracuse Street, an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). When Denver Police arrived, they discovered a dead man with multiple gunshot wounds. It won’t surprise you to…
Another day, another vile shaken-baby story. Just yesterday, we told you about Denver’s Stephen Dailey, who’s facing an attempted-murder beef related to the grave injuries suffered by his two-month-old son. Now, a first-degree murder accusation has been leveled against Boulder’s Benjamin Koller, who reportedly admits to having shaken, bit and…
At this point, the folks at Aurora Public Schools really, really don’t want to talk about an incident in which a Hinkley High student allegedly attacked a substitute teacher for taking her cell phone — and related subjects are basically off-limits as well. Regarding the assault, media-relations specialist Paula Hans…
Ricky Lee Harnish traded a confession in the 1976 Holly Andrews case for a reduced charge with a potential ten-to-24-year sentence — waaaay too sweet a deal for a guy who admits to raping and murdering a sixteen-year-old girl. Even Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger admits to mixed emotions…
Hard to believe that Stephen Dailey has never seen those public-service announcements warning people to never shake a baby — even once. But if he did, the Denver District Attorney’s Office believes he didn’t take them to heart. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been accused of attempted first-degree murder and sundry…
Face the facts: Texting in cars can be a pain in the ass when it’s done by drivers who pay more attention to remembering how many times to press the “3” button to get the letter “e” than they do to staying in their lane. But in the case of…
The Denver Coroner’s Office has just updated its list of homicides for 2009 to date, and it’s not pretty. Beginning with Michael Thomas, who died on January 9 due to “sharp force injury to abdomen” through Barbara Irish, who succumbed due to “complications of penetrating gunshot wound of head,” all…
Earlier today, I expressed astonishment that Ricky Lee Harnish, who’s admitted to having raped and murdered teenager Holly Andrews in 1976, will likely face a sentence that maxes out at 24 years. Clear Creek Sheriff Don Krueger, in whose jurisdiction Andrews’ body was found, understands this reaction — because he’s…
Yay! You’ve just won some money playing the lottery — and being as you’re a 75-year-old woman, you can definitely use it. So you head to the nearest grocery store to cash out, feeling mighty fine about life in general. If only Leonard Bedon wasn’t watching the whole thing over…
Of course it’s good news that 54-year-old Ricky Lee Harnish, the killer of Holly Andrews, who went missing in December 1976, has belatedly — really belatedly — taken responsibility for the crime. But the price of this confession was a reduced charge of second-degree murder and a likely sentence of…
In the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2002, Denver police arrived at a home in Congress Park after dispatchers received a call about an attempted suicide. But when they arrived, the front door was locked, and the man, Kurt Sonnefeld, either wouldn’t or couldn’t open the front door…
When 20-year-old Leo Beitz visited an old friend in Boulder last weekend, they did what old friends do: Went out. Got drunk. Came home. Played video games. But at some point in the night, Beitz, for reasons that remain unclear, did some things old friends usually don’t do: Grabbed a…
Any day that includes a trip to Wal-Mart is bound to suck, low-low prices notwithstanding. But when it ends with getting your ass kicked by a guy in a wheelchair and then a trip to jail, it’s time to change your lucky socks…
The Denver-based Pendulum Foundation has made some significant progress in challenging the laws that can send juveniles to adult prison, serving life without parole for violent crimes committed when they were fifteen- or sixteen-years old — a wrenching issue Luke Turf explored in his 2005 feature “Headed For Trouble.” Now,…
Say somebody calls you up and asks if you’d like to donate to the Family Help Center. Sounds like a good idea, right? Because you like families, and you’d like to help. But if you opened up your heart, and your wallet, to such an offer between 2005 and 2007,…
View Larger Map Here’s a development sure to freak out residents living in the vicinity of 3042 Humboldt Street, an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). Early this morning, the Denver Police Department responded to a burglary call at…
Accused murderer Scott Kimball, who’s expected to plead guilty to two counts of second-degree murder at a proceeding tomorrow, plays a significant role in “Strip Search,” a 2006 Luke Turf article about Jennifer Marcum, a former Shotgun Willie’s employee then missing for more than three years. She’d landed at his…
I am back from the front lines of the kiddie porn wars with some shocking news: The prosperous, sprawling suburbs of Douglas County conceal a steamy underbelly of underage sexual exhibitionism. Youth are being exploited right and left. Usually by each other. Sexting — the insidious, technologically inevitable, highly adolescent,…
Marine Lance Hering so didn’t want to return to duty back in 2006 that he and a friend, Steve Powers, cooked up an elaborate story about his disappearance after injury in a Eldorado Canyon climbing accident. The tale and its aftermath (including his arrest in Washington state several months later),…
Give peace a chance? Not in much of Capitol Hill today. Over the weekend, a graffiti practitioner and/or crew with, presumably, a keen sense of irony, tossed up hastily scrawled peace signs on businesses, government buildings and even some private residences, much to the chagrin of those whose property was…
