By Vanessa Miller Camera Staff Writer
Boulder Daily Camera
Posted:01/02/2010 11:16:38 PM MST
2009 Boulder County homicides
Boulder County authorities in 2009 investigated eight homicides, making it the deadliest year in more than a decade.
Including four Broomfield homicides and a fatal shooting at Eldora Mountain Resort on Dec. 30 -- just before the start of 2009 -- local detectives investigated 13 homicides in a year's time. In eight of the killings, the suspects and victims were married, dating or related; in three of the killings, the people knew each other; and two were officer-involved shootings.
Most coroner's offices -- including the Boulder County Coroner's Office -- don't include cases where someone was prosecuted for vehicular homicide in their official homicide count. Those cases -- like when Mary Jo Thomas struck and killed Louisville man John Breaux with her car on Jan. 30 -- fall under traffic-related deaths, said Coroner Tom Faure.
The last year the Coroner's Office investigated eight homicides was 1995, according to Faure. The year prior, there were 10 homicides in the county, and Faure points out that fewer people lived in the county at that time.
Still, Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said, "any homicide is a tragedy and we want to try to prevent them." To that end, the District Attorney's Office has created a "Sex Assault/Domestic Violence Unit," partly because such a high percentage of the 2009 homicides were domestic-violence related.
The new unit, according to Garnett, combines the strengths of "some of the most capable attorneys in my office, all of whom have the specialized training, expertise and experience to handle theses types of cases, which are some of the most difficult to prosecute."
Stresses related to the recession and other factors have fueled a spike in domestic violence, local experts said.
In 2008, Boulder County law enforcement -- including Boulder, Longmont, Louisville and Lafayette police departments -- reported a 4 percent increase in total domestic violence cases over 2007, according to the Boulder County Domestic Abuse Prevention Project. The combined arrest rate was up 6 percent, according to the county. Statistics for 2009 are not yet available.
"It's clear to me that domestic violence continues to be a very critical issue of public safety in Boulder County," Garnett said. "I've heard it said, when someone asks, 'How safe a place is Boulder County?' That depends on who you live with."
Deputy District Attorney Tim Johnson, one of four prosecutors assigned to the new unit, said Boulder County had more domestic violence-related deaths in 2009 than any year in the past decade.
"I think there has been an increase and an increase in the seriousness of cases out there," Johnson said. "So we are refocusing and reapplying our efforts to say that this is not normal and this is not accepted."
In addition to domestic-violence homicides, Johnson said, the county considers other lower-profile cases -- like one man's suicide -- to be domestic-violence deaths as well. For example, Colin Gates, 63, of Boulder, was arrested in September on suspicion of a domestic assault. He hanged himself a short time later, and Johnson said authorities considered that to be domestic-violence related.
Johnson said he doesn't know why the county saw a surge in the number and seriousness of domestic violence cases in 2009 but authorities are working to be more proactive in recognizing the signs and intervening before it's too late.
"We want to get into the community -- the doctor's offices, the eye doctors and the dentists -- and provide training to recognize domestic violence," Johnson said. "If we have those services in place, it might short-circuit cases that would get lethal."
Alexandra Lynch, development director for the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence in Boulder, said the organization in 2009 sheltered more women and children, counseled more domestic violence victims and answered more crisis calls than in years past.
"So we are very excited at the idea of the DA's office making this a focus," Lynch said, calling this year's spike in domestic-violence homicides "shocking."
"Nationwide there has been an uptick in domestic violence cases with the recession taking its toll on families," Lynch said.
A tough economy might not directly cause domestic violence, Lynch said, but it can fuel already abusive relationships by adding stress and providing more opportunities for people without jobs to fight at home.
"The correlation is clear," she said. "But, at the same time, there has been a steady increase in domestic violence incidents in Boulder County for years. This isn't unique to the recession of 2008-09. It's an underreported crime, and the reports are going up."
Boulder's Safehouse serves more than 400 women and children every year, and Lynch said last week that the shelter "certainly has seen our maximum numbers reached this year."
Jan. 23 -- Joseph Abeyta, 42, of Longmont, shot his "best friend" William Andrews, 47, of Boulder, three times in the chest and head with a sawed-off shotgun in a car on Sumac Avenue in north Boulder. Abeyta then dumped Andrews out of the car and left him for dead by the curb. Abeyta was convicted of first-degree murder in October and sentenced to life in prison.
April 1 -- Robert Oakley, 39, killed his ex-wife, Katelin Oakley, 30, in the Boulder home they had shared when they were married at 3100 23rd St., police said. He then turned the gun on himself. The couple had two boys under age 6.
April 20 -- Logan Sisson, 19, of Longmont, died of stab wounds he suffered during a fight in Longmont's Lanyon Park. Raymond Palomino, 26, Mariena Harris, 19, Lakesha Crutcher, 20, and Robert Wittmer, 36, were arrested in connection with the stabbing death. Harris and Crutcher -- both of whom faced second-degree murder charges -- pleaded guilty earlier this month to accessory charges and agreed to probation in exchange or their testimony. Prosecutors believe Palomino stabbed Sisson.
May 25 -- Phil F. DiLeo, 61, shot his wife, Elizabeth Schwarzenbach-DiLeo, 63, and their 23-year-old son, Philip Christopher DiLeo, to death in their Boulder home at 2403 Bluff St., according to police. He then shot himself.
Aug. 2 -- Traci Housman, 36, was arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing her husband, John Housman, 41, in their home at 2994 23rd St., Boulder. She's scheduled to enter a plea in her case on Friday.
Aug. 10 -- Brian Christopher Naranjo, 35, was shot and killed by three Longmont police officers and one Boulder County sheriff's deputy following a high-speed police chase through Longmont. The Boulder County Coroner's Office found 11 gunshot wounds to Naranjo's body, at least half of which would likely have been fatal.
Oct. 5 -- Jack Koller, at 4 months, died from injuries related to alleged abuse from his father, according to the Boulder County Coroner's Office. Benjamin Koller, 26, was charged with first-degree murder in October after his son died. He's being held at the Boulder County Jail on $1 million bond and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in the case Feb. 16.
Other area homicides:
Jan. 24 -- Alexander Pacheco, 19, was arrested on suspicion of killing his former girlfriend 13-year-old Kelsey Shannon. Shannon was reported missing Oct. 14, and authorities found her body Jan. 21 in a ditch north of the intersection of West 136th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard. Pacheco, who is accused of having sex with Shannon's corpse, is scheduled to be tried for murder in March.
May 24 -- Leigh Landskroner, 50, was shot and killed by her husband, Howard Blair Kepler, 58, in their Broomfield home at 13005 Lowell Blvd. Broomfield police shot and killed Kepler after they arrived on the scene.
Sept. 12 -- Broomfield police found two people shot dead at 2791 Calkins Place. Officers identified the victims as Jodi Samuels and her ex-husband, Darryl Stricklin, and said they were investigating it as a domestic violence incident. Police officials have yet to say who shot whom.
Source: Camera archives
Boulder County homicides by the numbers
2009 -- 8
2008 -- 2
2007 -- 4
2006 -- 3
2005 -- 2
2004 -- 4
2003 -- 1
2002 -- 7
2001 -- 2
2000 -- 3
1999 -- 7
Source: Boulder County Coroner's Office
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