Tracey Wooden Murder/Rape Traced to Daniel Fellovetr 9 Years After His Death

Back in March, we told you about the conviction of Donald Shores for the brutal 1994 sex assault of a 67-year-old woman.

By the time Shores was found guilty, his victim had already died. She passed away in 2000.

As for Daniel Fellovetr, he, too, has gone the way of all flesh. He perished in 2006 while imprisoned for sex assault — but not the one committed against Tracey Wooden, a sixteen-year-old who died of strangulation in his attack against her.

Now, however, the Denver District Attorney's Office has determined that Fellovetr was responsible for the crimes committed against Wooden thanks to DNA evidence — the same type of clue that led to the belated prosecution of Shores.

The only photo of Wooden that's surfaced thus far is of poor quality, like the one of Fellovetr above. But it still manages to convey how young she was when her life was tragically cut short.


On August 12, 1985, according to the DA's office, Wooden suffered minor injuries after getting into a motorcycle accident. She was treated at a local hospital and released.

Approximately ninety minutes later, she was found dead in an alley in the Lower Downtown area. The coroner's office declared the cause of death to be strangulation, and also confirmed that she'd been sexually assaulted.

The case went unsolved for the lion's share of the next three decades. But earlier this year, detectives reportedly developed new leads, resulting in DNA that scored a hit with Fellovetr, whose sample remained in the system even though he'd been dead for years.

Although Fellovetr was never charged in the Wooden case, he wasn't at large for long after the attack against her. He was busted for a separate sexual assault on a woman just a couple of months later. His conviction in that case kept him behind bars until his death.

Earlier this week, following the determination that Fellovetr killed Wooden, members of the DA's office Cold Case Project met with Wooden's family and gave them the news. 

They are said to have been appreciative that Wooden's murder is no longer unsolved — and the man responsible for it died in prison.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.