Author: Carol McKinley, Special to The Denver Gazette
-
Aurora dentist offered $20,000 to kill lead detective on case
James Craig, an Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife, tried to get a cellmate to kill “the worst, dirtiest detective in the world,” according to testimony in an evidentiary hearing Friday. That officer, Aurora police detective Bobbi Jo Olson, has led the investigation of the alleged murder of Craig’s wife. Last November, two weeks before…
-
From big-city attorney to Colorado ranch hand helping save 200 horses from a wildfire
Ami Cullen is more at home on a Colorado dude ranch in her muddy work boots than she was in a courtroom. On an unusually warm February day on Granby’s C Lazy U ranch she saddled up her horse, Squirt — a palomino gelding with a silver mane and tail she “typically uses for the…
-
Former Fort Carson Iraq war veteran gives up the fight to stay in the U.S.
Jose Barco, a decorated U.S. Army veteran once based out of Fort Carson who served two tours in Iraq during some of the most intense fighting but later served time for a felony conviction, has become a casualty of a different kind of war. At an immigration hearing Wednesday morning, he told Assistant Immigration Judge…
-
6,000 federal workers based in Lakewood face choice even as judge temporarily blocks Trump’s buyout offer
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s buyout offer, giving federal employees, including some 6,000 in Lakewood, a momentary reprieve from deciding whether to accept or refuse . The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline to apply for the deferred resignation program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston directed…
-
Fresh off of serving prison time, veteran Fort Carson soldier hopes for immigration reprieve
As agents from multiple federal agencies conducted immigration raids in Denver and Aurora on Wednesday morning, a decorated soldier sat in a holding cell in the Aurora ICE Detention Center praying for a miracle. Jose Barco, 39, served his country and then he served his time. He was a member of the U.S. Army’s 2nd…
-
Missy Woods, former Colorado forensic scientist at center of DNA scandal, appears in court
The former top Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist who is at the center of a major DNA scandal appeared remotely from her jail for her first court proceeding in Jefferson County this morning. Yvonne “Missy” Woods had turned herself into Jefferson County authorities on Wednesday. She was booked into jail on a 102-count felony…
-
Murder charges filed in fatal stabbing on 16th Street Mall
The Denver District Attorney on Friday filed first-degree murder charges against the 24-year-old man accused of stabbing four people at the 16th Street Mall last weekend, killing two. Elijah Caudill is now facing two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and four violent crime sentence enhancers. He has…
-
After 39 years, Lone Tree cold case comes full circle for former Douglas County sheriff
As he was dying that day in November 1985, Roger Dean tore what would become a critical clue in his own murder from his killer’s head — an orange ski mask dotted with DNA evidence. It would take decades, though, and steady advancements in DNA science before investigators were able to solve a case that had…
-
Denver’s first female district attorney says leaving office will be ‘bittersweet’
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann’s office was in mid-pack last week so The Denver Gazette interviewed her in the 2nd Judicial District’s conference room in its cushy new offices in Republic Plaza in downtown Denver. In the interview, she discussed criminal justice, her once-contentious relationship with the Denver Police Department and her love for climbing…
-
Another small town Colorado police force disbanded
A week after the town of Morrison dissolved its police force, Georgetown’s mountain police department is also disbanding. The Clear Creek County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved an intergovernmental agreement for the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement to Georgetown to fill the gap. The sheriff’s office has agreed to patrol for 18 hours…