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Iraq war veteran killed by estranged wife in murder-suicide in westside Colorado Springs
Castle Rock mother files protection order against husband then kills their kids
Fort Collins woman arrested for first-degree murder after ex-husband found stabbed to death
Montrose man dies after girlfriend slashes his throat with beer bottle in Fort Collins
Two arrested in Calhan after apparent love triangle murder
Abstracted from story by Jakob Rodgers, Colorado Springs Gazette
January 10, 2011
—A decorated Iraq war veteran was found dead in his home Saturday. It was later determined that he was shot and killed by his estranged wife before she turned the gun on herself at 829 Skyway Boulevard in westside Colorado Springs.
Aaron Sevey, 48, who won a Bronze Star during service in Iraq, died of multiple gunshot wounds, an autopsy by the El Paso County coroner found. "She shot him right as he entered the door," Aaron's son James Sevey said. "Shot him twice in the torso."
An autopsy found that Pam Sevey, 44, died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death was ruled the city's first homicide of 2011,
Aaron and Pam Sevey were married about five years ago but had been separated for two years and were living apart. They had filed for divorce but never went through with it apparently so that Pam and her twin 16-year-old daughters from an earlier relationship could still have health insurance.
Aaron Sevey was an active duty soldier for about four years before switching to the National Guard and moving to Colorado Springs roughly 15 years ago. He was activated and sent to Iraq a few years ago. He was awarded a Bronze Star while serving as an engineer there with a Colorado National Guard unit helping to build dams and other structures.
He was injured when an improvised explosive device exploded and damaged a nearby Humvee. He suffered a severe shoulder injury and had to have nearly 20 surgeries.
Abstracted from story by Carlos Illescas and Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post
May 24, 2011 — Kelli Lynn Murphy, 41, of Castle Rock called police at 7:48 AM to report that she was trying to commit suicide.
When asked by a police dispatcher whether there were any children in the home, the mother replied: "They are in heaven."
When police arrived at the Founders Village home of Mrs. Murphy, they found her son, 9-year-old Liam, and his sister, Madigan, 6, dead in their bedrooms. Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane said the bodies had no visible signs of injury.
Mrs. Murphy was treated at a hospital for wounds to her wrists and arrested Monday afternoon, Chief Lane said.
Police say the children's father, Robert Murphy, is not a suspect. Castle Rock police made a welfare check at the Murphy home at the request of Robert Murphy on Sunday, May 22 nd . But Chief Lane would not say what happened during the visit except that it "related to this," meaning the deaths.
The past year was a turbulent one for the couple. They filed for bankruptcy and divorce, and Kelli Murphy got a protection order against her husband. A hearing had been slated for Monday to discuss a parenting schedule.
According to court documents Kelli Murphy filed for a protection order at Douglas County District Court on March 3 rd . She alleged domestic violence by her husband against her and the children. It was not clear whether Robert Murphy replied to the allegations. A temporary protection order was granted but was later withdrawn.
On April 26, 2011, Kelli Murphy withdrew her request to dissolve the marriage, saying: "I do not want to divorce my husband." Her bid to end the proceedings — which was denied — said she had filed for divorce "wrongly, out of anger."
"I do not want a divorce, and my husband has told me that as well," Kelli Murphy's court document said. "This needs to stop. We need counseling, not a divorce."
The family had financial trouble in the months leading up to the children's murders. The couple filed for bankruptcy last June. Robert Murphy worked for Qwest Communications and made more than $71,000 in 2009, the bankruptcy document said. But in 2010, his earnings dipped to about $33,000. At the time of the filing, the documents say the couple had $149 in a checking account and $50 in savings, with more than $20,000 in debt.
Kelli Murphy now faces two first-degree murder charges after deliberation, two charges of first-degree murder of a victim under 12 years of age by a person in a position of trust, and two charges of child abuse resulting in death.
Abstracted in part from article by Madeline Novey, Reporter-Herald
August 17, 2011
— Fort Collins police arrested 38-year-old Stephanie Theander on charges of stabbing to death her ex-husband, Gregg Theander, 48, earlier this month.
Fort Collins Police Services arrested the Fort Collins woman around noon at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley. Gregg Theander's brother said that Stephanie tried to commit suicide at a hotel and was taken to the medical center where she was later arrested.
Stephanie Theander is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and domestic violence. She is being held without bond at the Larimer County Detention Center in Fort Collins.
An autopsy completed by the Larimer County Coroner's office on August 9 ruled the death as a homicide. The cause of death was the result of stab wounds to the torso.
Gregg Theander's girlfriend found him dead in his southeast Fort Collins home, 2201 Creststone Court, on August 8, after she tried unsuccessfully to contact him by phone, police said. Gregg and Stephanie had purchased the Creststone Court home in March 2010 but divorced in May of that year.
She called his employer, who said he did not show up for work. She then went to his home, where she found him dead with stab wounds to the torso.
Gregg Theander, a former Loveland resident, had worked for Colorado-based HealthStyles Exercise Equipment since 1994, according to a website biography, and was the regional manager for Northern Colorado stores. It said he was an avid runner and cyclist. The couple has two children, a boy nine and a girl 10 and they are reported to be staying with an aunt.
Abstracted in part from story by Michael Roberts, Westword
October 2, 2011
—Azura Lakin, age 20, slashed Montrose resident Shaun Cassidy, 23, in the neck with a beer bottle. Cassidy died, but no charges have been filed against Lakin to date. Why not? Authorities are determining whether her actions qualify as self-defense.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that Cassidy and Ms. Lakin got into a fight while out on the town in Fort Collins and the argument continued after they went to her apartment, in the Gables at Silverplume complex 1601 W. Swallow Road in Fort Collins.
During the argument Ms. Lakin slashed and stabbed Cassidy in the throat with a broken beer bottle and apparently beat him over the head with a bottle or some other blunt object.
According to the arrest affidavit, Ms. Lakin told police she had been fighting with Cassidy and hit him twice with a beer bottle because he broke her cell phone.
She said it happened in the hallway just outside her apartment. Lakin told the officer, "It felt different" when she hit Cassidy with the bottle the second time.
Police were called to The Gables at Silverplume complex where they found Cassidy outside Ms. Lakin's apartment and administered first aid as they waited for paramedics to arrive. He was then taken to the hospital in critical condition but it was too late. After he died, an autopsy listed the cause as "extensive cerebral infarction" related to stabs and cuts to the neck. The coroner also listed a "blunt-force injury" on his head's left side.
Ms. Lakin was arrested and jailed after the incident, but released from custody after a week. Representatives from various agencies tell the Coloradoan she hadn't been formally accused yet because the incident might under the state's Make My Day law, which allows an individual to defend himself or herself at home.
An example of this ruling came in the May 2010 shooting of Marcus Duran by Darrell Kutchin, whose homicide was ultimately found to be justified. However, the fact that Ms. Lakin told police the stabbing happened in the hallway rather than in her apartment would argue against a Make My Day defense. But Ms. Lakin was exonerated by prosecutors under Colorado's Make My Day Law.
[The EJF thinks that there would be little question as to whether this was a criminal homicide if a man had slashed his girlfriend's throat outside his apartment.]
Abstracted from stories in the Colorado Springs Gazette
October 25, 2011 — Two people have been arrested for first-degree murder in the Saturday, October 22, 2011, shooting death of a 55-year-old man in Calhan in eastern El Paso County. The victim has been identified as Robert Miles, a former boyfriend of 47-year-old Traci Adams, who lived at the house.
Ms. Adams and her boyfriend, 48-year-old Mark Manyik were arrested October 24, 2011, on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said.
The shooting happened about 7:40 PM Saturday at a home on the 15000 block of North Ellicott Highway. It was reported as "burglary in progress" and deputies were originally told that Miles had broken into the house and was shot during a struggle. When they arrived deputies found Miles on the ground with a gunshot wound to his abdomen outside Manyik's house. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital where he died. An autopsy conducted Monday by the El Paso County Coroner's office ruled that Miles died from a gunshot wound.
But what Manyik and Ms. Adams told deputies from the start didn't add up to an attempted burglary.
In his original story Manyik said he heard the front door open while loading his guns "for what he considered to be an inevitable confrontation" with Miles, according to an arrest affidavit.
Manyik told deputies he fired out of fear that Miles would hurt Ms. Adams, who was said to be showering at the time.
Manyik told deputies Miles once threatened him with a table leg and he thought Miles broke Ms. Adams' nose in April. Manyik added that he possibly found Miles footprints on his property Friday.
But deputies were tipped of on Sunday by Miles' friends, who said they heard Miles talking to Ms. Adams on the phone on Saturday, October 22 nd . Lalauna Sandage and another friend said they were with Miles earlier in the day and that Traci Adams had repeatedly called and texted Miles, saying that her boyfriend was away. Miles then left to meet her and never came back. Ms. Sandage told deputies that Miles was worried he was being lured into an attack but went to Calhan anyway.
Though Traci Adams insisted she didn't call Miles before the shooting, phone records showed that she made 16 calls to him that night. When shown the phone records Ms. Adams admitted to luring Miles to his death because she was afraid Manyik would break up with her.
She confessed to telling Miles to "just walk into the residence" and she intentionally left the front door unlocked. To hide evidence of her calls she took Miles' phone while he was still alive and moving and later threw it away on an eastern El Paso County road.
The murder plan appears to have been hatched Friday when Ms. Adams heard Manyik say he would "do something" to Miles, though he didn't go into detail. Manyik then left a voicemail on detective Patrick Gattenby's phone Friday threatening to shoot Miles in the "belly" with a shotgun. Apparently Manyik called Gattenby because he had investigated a domestic violence incident between Miles and Traci Adams that was alleged to have occured in April 2011. That investigation finally began in September but Ms. Adams didn't cooperate.
However, Detective Gattenby was off duty Friday and notified detective Cliff Porter on Monday morning that he missed the voicemail, which was left on his desk phone, said Sgt. Mike Schaller, sheriff's spokesman.
Shortly after hearing the message Monday, deputies called Manyik, who, along with Ms. Adams, agreed to meet investigators. Traci Adams, in particular, welcomed the detectives' offer.
According to the police affidavit she was "happy" since she could "get the story out word for word, because last time we talked we hadn't gotten' a chance to get our stories together."
Traci Adams and Mark Manyik are currently being held without bond in the El Paso County jail.
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