The Denver Police Department is on the lookout for 25-year-old Christina Santos — not due to anything she’s done, but because of what was done to her. Early this morning, Santos was reportedly grabbed by her boyfriend and forced into his vehicle against her will. Their whereabouts is currently unknown,…
Steve Pierce’s first arrest for a sex crime took place when he was just twelve years old. And the Thornton Police Department feels confident he hasn’t grown out of this abominable habit despite the decades that have passed, not to mention numerous additional run-ins with the law. Pierce is now…
Update: More information is emerging about the tragic murder of Routt County’s Asher Lesyshen-Kirlan, age nine. According to local law-enforcement reports, Asher’s parents, Lisa Marie Lesyshen and Michael Kirlan, were going through a separation at the time Lisa shot Asher multiple times, killing him. Afterward, she told Michael to come…
Tomorrow’s scheduled hearing in the case of accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes has been postponed until Tuesday, June 4. The purpose of the hearing is so the judge can advise Holmes about “the effect and consequences” of entering an insanity plea. Once the judge has done so, he’ll decide…
The judge in the case of accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes has ruled that Colorado’s insanity plea laws are constitutional. In doing so, Judge Carlos Samour rejected arguments by Holmes’s attorneys that the laws are unconstitutional partly because they bar a defendant from calling his own experts to testify…
A hearing today in the case of accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes dealt with one question: If Holmes, who has indicated that he’d like to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, does not cooperate with a court-ordered mental examination, should he be allowed to call his own expert…
When Governor John Hickenlooper announced yesterday that he’s offering a reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted in 1996 of killing four people at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, he never uttered Dunlap’s name. Instead, he chose to call him “offender number 89148,” reasoning that he’d already gotten enough notoriety…
Yesterday, in announcing a reprieve for quadruple murderer Nathan Dunlap noted that Lisa Clements remains against the death penalty even after what happened to her husband, the late Colorado prison chief Tom Clements. What happened to Clements is that Evan Ebel allegedly murdered him, then took off for Texas, where…
Moments ago, Governor John Hickenlooper announced his decision regarding the scheduled execution of Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted in 1996 of killing four people and seriously wounding a fifth during an assault three years earlier at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. Rather than granting clemency, as had been requested by…
There’s a huge disconnect between the images shared online by Orin Fryson and news of his assorted arrests and guilty pleas. The former portray him as a super-hot photographer whose striking images of gorgeous women are undeniably eye-popping. The latter depicts busts for indecent exposure and masturbation at assorted Denver-area…
A note to potential employers of Taylor Powers, 21. When you Google her name, you will come across posts like this one — as well as clips from the New York Daily News and The Smoking Gun — about her being charged following her mushroom-fueled strip and subsequent rescue during…
Update: Yesterday, we told you about the shooting of an employee during what appeared to be a robbery at a Pleasures adult store in Aurora; see our previous coverage below. Now, representatives of the Aurora Police Department have released a surveillance photo of the man who pulled the trigger. See…
For all the good things that come along with more cycling in Denver, there are also some negatives — including bicycle-related crime, which tends to be committed at some locations more often than others. Example: A new 9News report has identified the city’s ten worst bike racks for theft, with…
A Montbello High student who says a schoolmate, nineteen-year-old Paris Bonds, tried to sexually assault her was so traumatized by what took place that she sought therapy before she reported the alleged crime to police. But with the therapist’s encouragement, the young woman contacted the Denver PD weeks after the…
On May 17, 2009, The Latest Word launched the Mile High Murderarchive. Today marks MHM’s fourth anniversary, and as is clear from the following compilation of cases we’ve covered over the previous 365 days, it’s been a very grim year. Example: Last year on this date, the archive’s total was…
On May 17, 2009, The Latest Word launched the Mile High Murder archive. Today marks MHM’s fourth anniversary, and as is clear from the cases we’ve covered over the previous 365 days, it’s been a very grim year. Example: Last year on this date, the archive’s total was 49. This…
Over the weekend in Lyons, Patrick Ward, 69, was arrested on a series of charges, including suspicion of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol, in the death of cyclist Michel Van Duym. Now, we’re learning that Ward appeared at a series of public meetings in Lyons circa…
Update: On Monday, we told you about a double stabbing in south Jeffco stemming from a domestic incident involving a couple said to be in their sixties. One person died, while the other was hospitalized. We’ve now got the names of the pair involved, and one of them — Michael…
While Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey wasn’t a fan of a 7News rape-kit story, he likely feels better about another report offered by the station on a similar subject. To whit: Thirty-year-old Dony Salazar, in jail for stabbing a pregnant victim, among other things, has now been charged with kidnapping…
We’ve been covering a clemency bid by Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people at a Chuck E. Cheese in 1993; see our previous coverage below. Yesterday, we shared a letter to Governor John Hickenlooper by a woman who was scheduled to work at the restaurant on the fateful evening but…
Update: Earlier this morning, we told you about a pipe-bomb-like device found at Centaurus High School in Lafayette yesterday. It was successfully retrieved and detonated. We also noted that authorities were focusing on a male person of interest in the case. Now comes a report that a sixteen-year-old boy has…
Late last month, a court document suggested that the attorneys representing accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes wished to enter a not-guity-by-reason-of-insanity plea on his behalf. At a hearing today, the defense team formally did so in the case, which involves the murder of twelve people and the wounding of…
