An 18-year-old pedestrian died Saturday after being injured in an Aurora hit-and-run 11 days earlier, police said.
Aurora police responded to the hit-and-run crash near East Colfax Avenue and North Sable Boulevard at about 9 p.m. on Jan. 20, according to a news release from the police department.
The 18-year-old was crossing Colfax against the traffic signal when an SUV struck him, police said. The SUV driver then fled the scene.
Paramedics took the pedestrian to the hospital, where he died from his injuries on Saturday, according to the release. He will be identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.
Talal Maaliki, a 71-year-old man believed to be driving the SUV, was arrested just hours after the crash and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, according to Arapahoe County court records. Additional charges may be filed by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office stemming from the pedestrian’s death.
A 21-year-old Aurora man was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after police say he attacked a woman walking on the High Line Canal Trail in Expo Park in May.
Jack Khaidav was arrested Tuesday night after detectives received a community tip through Metro Denver Crime Stoppers about the case, the Aurora Police Department said in a news release.
The assault happened the morning of May 8, when a woman told police she was attacked from behind by an unknown man and managed to fight him off and warn other women in the area.
Detectives obtained surveillance video of the man leaving the scene, and a community member recently submitted a tip that it was Khaidav, department officials said.
Khaidav is being held at the Arapahoe County Jail without bail. He is set to appear in court Tuesday for a filing of charges hearing, according to court records.
Three people were injured after a woman opened fire outside a house party in Brighton overnight, police officials said Saturday.
The shooting happened at 12:26 a.m. near Bridge Street and South Eighth Avenue, the Brighton Police Department said in a news release.
Witnesses told police there was a fight happening when a suspect drew a handgun and started shooting toward the house and people standing in the front yard.
Officers at the scene found a 23-year-old woman, 18-year-old man and 24-year-old woman with gunshot wounds. The man was treated and released from the hospital and the two women are in critical but stable condition, police said.
Witnesses told police the woman who shot at the house sped away from the scene. Officers determined the woman, 19-year-old Casandra Rocha-Martinez, was later involved in a car crash.
A 23-year-old woman in the same vehicle was injured when she was ejected from the car during the crash, Brighton police said.
Rocha-Martinez was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and vehicular assault. Information about her bond and next court appearance were not available Saturday.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the Brighton Police Department tip line at 303-655-8740.
The Justice Department on Friday released many more files related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, including a gushing exchange between Melania Trump and Epstein’s now-imprisoned sidekick, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“Dear G! How are you?” Melania began one apparent email to Maxwell, dated October 2002. “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great in the picture.”
New York magazine ran a story about Epstein that month in which Donald Trump indicated he knew about his former pal’s penchant for young girls.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump boasted. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The correspondence between Melania Trump and Maxwell took place more than two years before the current first lady became Trump’s third wife.
In her email, Melania expressed excitement about visiting Maxwell in Palm Beach and tried to make arrangements to meet up with her as soon as she was back in New York City. Trump and Epstein owned property in both cities.
A 2002 email from Melania Trump to Ghislaine Maxwell was released in the Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday, January 30, 2026.
(Justice Department)
According to the Daily Beast, which first reported on the email exchange, Maxwell responded by referring to Melania as “Sweet pea,” and sharing that a change in plans would have her back in New York for only a short time.
“I leave again on Fri so I still do not think I have time to see you sadly,” Maxwell wrote. “I will try and call though.”
The emails appear to be the first written communications between Maxwell and the future first lady, who was then still known as Melania Knauss. However, the pair were known to spend together alongside Trump and Epstein, and were photographed with the men around that same time.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff alleged in 2024 that Trump and Melania first had sex on Epstein’s private plane. The author claims Melania responded by threatening a lawsuit meant to harass and intimidate him.
Wolff, who said Epstein was a secret source for his reporting, filed a suit of his own and hopes to formally question Melania.
The White House has not commented on the newly released emails between Melania and Maxwell. Neither of the Trumps have been accused of illegal activity involving Epstein or his associates.
A woman was seriously injured in an overnight fire involving three houses that displaced about four others in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, officials said.
Shortly after 1 a.m., officers and firefighters responded to a call of a fire involving three residential houses in the 6300 block of South Oakley Avenue. Firefighters were extinguishing the fires where a woman was taken in serious condition to UChicago Medicine, officials said.
At least four adults were displaced due to the fires, officials said.
HUDSON, N.H. — A Staten Island man is being held without bail after police said he carried out a coordinated retail theft operation, stealing 455 containers of over-the-counter medications from Walmart and several Hannaford grocery stores before fleeing from officers.
The Hudson Police said they arrested 28-year-old Yasin Shearin after Walmart employees on Lowell Road reported a “repeat theft suspect” they wanted removed for trespassing. When officers approached him, Shearin displayed a New York driver’s license on his phone, but the photo did not match him, and he struggled to answer questions about his identity, including his Social Security number, according to a police affidavit.
Police said they linked him to a prior felony theft at the same Walmart involving nearly $1,500 in merchandise on Oct. 29. According to the affidavit, during that prior incident, the store’s asset protection employee took surveillance of Shearin placing items into a tote and walking past all points of sale. The employee told police Shearin appeared to be attempting the same method again on Dec. 17, concealing Zyrtec inside a closed tote.
Police said the store’s asset protection employee also alleged Shearin had “numerous open cases around the area regarding past thefts with Walmart.”
As police moved to arrest him, Shearin allegedly resisted and ran from the store. Officers chased him across the parking lot and apprehended him by the nearby McDonald’s.
Police said Shearin tried to get into a black 2025 Nissan SUV with New York plates during the chase. The vehicle was seized, and a search warrant allegedly uncovered 455 items of over-the-counter medications — Tylenol, Zyrtec, Nexium, Nicorette, Motrin, Dulcolax, Nexium, Pepcid, Breathe Right nasal strips and more — packed into bags.
Police said they also found marijuana and what they believe to be butane hash oil.
The affidavit states GPS data obtained from the vehicle showed it had stopped at several Walmart and Hannaford supermarkets in New Hampshire, including locations in Salem, Bedford, Seabrook, Manchester, Derry, Londonderry and Hudson.
Surveillance footage from the Hudson store showed Shearin entering alone, heading directly to the vitamin and health aisle, and concealing medications in a blue bag hidden inside a shopping cart before walking out without paying, according to the affidavit.
Police later matched the blue bag to one allegedly seized from the SUV.
Shearin was arraigned in the 9th Circuit Nashua District Court on Friday. Court documents state he entered a not-guilty plea to willful concealment, a Class A misdemeanor, and no pleas to receiving stolen property ($1,501 or more), a Class A felony, and organized retail crime enterprise and theft by unauthorized taking ($1,001-$1,501), both Class B felonies.
A judge ordered him held without bail, citing his risk of flight, multiple open cases in other states, and what was described as a safety risk to himself and the community if released.
Shearin was appointed a public defender, Alex Charles Fernald, who was not immediately available for comment.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
A man died after he was found unresponsive in a housing unit at the Downtown Detention Center early Tuesday morning, the Denver Sheriff Department said in a news release.
An emergency medical team responded to the jail after the man was found at 3:30 a.m., but he was pronounced dead a short time later, sheriff’s officials said.
The man’s death will be investigated by the Denver Police Department, and his name and cause of death will be released by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
A teenager has been accused of first-degree murder after a pregnant woman was found stabbed to death in an apartment fire in west suburban Downers Grove Monday night, local authorities said.
Downers Grove police and fire responded to reports of a structure fire in a local apartment building just after 6 p.m., according to village officials. Fire crews removed a 30-year-old pregnant woman from the building, who had suffered “apparent sharp force trauma,” officials said. The woman, identified as Eliza Morales of Downers Grove, was treated by paramedics but ultimately pronounced dead on scene.
A second person was treated on scene for smoke inhalation and transported to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, officials said.
On Tuesday, the village stated Nedas Revuckas, 19, of Westmont, had been arrested in connection to the stabbing death. Revuckas was charged with first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child, armed robbery, aggravated arson and aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Officials released no further details on the matter.
Revuckas will be transported to DuPage County Jail and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Wednesday.
The chef of the acclaimed Avondale restaurant Warlord has been issued a second order of protection after he was accused of distributing private sexual images of a woman without her consent, Cook County court records show.
Chicago police arrested Trevor Fleming, 41, early on Jan. 17 at his home, according to police records. He was released later that day on electronic monitoring with orders to avoid the woman’s home and workplace, court records show.
The images Fleming is accused of sharing in September 2023 “clearly show” the woman’s face and private areas during a sexual act, according to court records.
On Monday, a Cook County judge issued an interim protective order against Fleming requiring him to avoid the woman’s home and place of work. The woman had been in a romantic relationship with Fleming, according to the order.
Fleming’s attorney Robert Rascia, reached for comment late Monday night, said the charge does not allege violence and that the order was issued over Fleming’s objection.
Cook County records also show that Fleming pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery in 2015.
For years, individuals and groups on internet forums like Reddit and TikTok have speculated on Fleming’s actions and broader misconduct at Warlord, but those alleged incidents have been left largely unpublicized.
However, in 2024, the Chicago Hospitality Accountable Actions Database Project, a local organization that advocates for restaurant workers and educates them about workplace rights, started receiving reports of “ongoing traumatic experiences” from employees at Warlord.
“Specifically, there was a report of a sexual assault that happened within the workplace that year,” Raeghn Draper, executive director of CHAAD Project, told the Tribune on Monday. “That opened up to multiple workers reaching out to report egregious claims of not only sexual harassment, but also stalking, bullying, intimidation, withholding wages and just an all-around really toxic and abusive work environment.”
Rascia said there is no law enforcement investigation of Fleming in relation to these allegations.
Draper said that initial report in early 2024 sparked a dozen employees to reach out to CHAAD Project about Fleming and the alleged complicity of Warlord’s other owners, Emily Kraszyk and John Lupton. Warlord’s owners could not be reached for comment.
The allegations coming from staff working the line at Warlord ultimately prompted CHAAD Project to post a public service announcement on Instagram warning Chicago’s hospitality community to “beware of Warlord.” In the comments section of the June 2024 post detailing some of the claims, a few people noted that the reports are unsurprising but a necessary call to action.
Draper said the organization typically doesn’t make public statements about specific restaurants, but these claims merited an exception.
“There was a lot of intimidation going on while we were trying to organize with the employees who reached out, and people got afraid — then also just exhausted,” Draper said. “The Chicago restaurant industry is still a little bit of a boys club, so if you piss off the wrong chef, especially one that’s a big personality, it can mean, sadly, finding your next job is nearly impossible.”
Draper said while women were the primary targets of Fleming’s alleged abuse and slurs, a couple of male employees also reached out to the organization to report harassment and bullying.
Fleming’s attorney did not comment on the reports shared by the CHAAD Project.
Meanwhile, Fleming is also subject to an earlier order of protection against another woman, which court records show is in effect until March 2027. The woman, who is listed as a current or former girlfriend of Fleming’s, first petitioned for a court order against him in January 2025, alleging that Fleming had grabbed her by her scarf and used it to choke her, threatened her for spreading rumors about him and slapped her phone out of her hand as she returned from walking a neighbor’s dog.
“I’m going to beat your (expletive), you think you can go around saying I rape people, who do you think you are,” Fleming allegedly told the woman during the confrontation, which took place near the back exit of Warlord.
The woman also alleged that Fleming threw her phone across the alley, called police to claim that she was stalking him and had threatened her multiple times in the past.
The order shows that Fleming was ordered to avoid the two North Side bars where the woman worked and to pay for damage to her apartment window, which had a rock thrown through it in August 2024. He was also ordered to complete a domestic violence partner abuse program and a mental health evaluation, records show.
Shakespeare District (14th) police previously arrested Fleming in June 2025 for alleged drug possession and driving without valid auto registration or insurance, court records show. He agreed to participate in a deferred prosecution program, records show, and the case was dismissed after he completed that program in September 2025.
Rascia said the 2025 drug charge was an unproven allegation.
According to Draper, employees still in touch with CHAAD Project shared that Fleming returned to work after a two-week suspension following his June 2025 arrest.
Fleming is next set to appear in court Wednesday morning before Judge Sabra Lynn Ebersole.
Warlord opened quietly in 2023 at 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave. without much publicity and few reservations, which is still the case. Instead, diners line up when the restaurant is open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays through Monday. In a 2023 Tribune review, former food critic Nick Kindelsperger noted the restaurant’s chaotic quality: a menu that could change minutes before service, flames jumping off the stove and deafening noise levels. One of the restaurant’s standout items remains the dry-aged burger.
In December, Warlord announced plans to open a second burger restaurant in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, named Lords. Draper, who lives in the neighborhood, said she’s pretty upset about it.
“It’s not that we don’t want a new restaurant and a new burger joint, but we don’t want someone who’s going to be using their position of power to harm not only restaurant workers who we advocate for, but also our neighbors and community members,” she said. “He’s not a safe person. And seeing the hospitality industry continue to invest in him and give him the platform to continue growing is really disturbing.”
Two men and a then-17-year-old boy went to the Downey Landing Shopping Center in August 2022 looking for a car to steal, with one of the men fatally shooting an off-duty Monterey Park police officer after he refused to get out of his 2019 Dodge Charger, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of the alleged shooter’s trial Monday, Jan. 26.
Carlos Daniel Delcid, now 23, is charged with murder, shooting into an inhabited dwelling and felon in possession of a firearm for the Aug. 8, 2022 daytime shooting of 26-year-old Gardiel Solorio. He also faces a robbery charge in relation to an April 2022 incident in Long Beach where he allegedly stole a necklace and wallet from another man, prosecutors said.
Of the three defendants, Delcid is the only one to go to trial. The then-17-year-old boy, identified Monday as Christopher Sanchez, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years. Last year, Gerardo Magallanes pleaded no contest to the same charge and received 24 years.
Delcid on Monday wore a white button-up shirt, thick-framed glasses, had a tattoo of the letter “R” with a crown above it near his left eye and listened as Deputy District Attorney Geoff Lewin told the panel of eight men and four women that much of the “overwhelming” evidence against him will come from his mouth as well as the mouths of his crime partners through Perkins operations – where arrestees are placed in recorded jail cells with undercover officers who try to get them to talk.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting were also caught on surveillance video of the parking lot outside the LA Fitness gym and a dashcam from the car of a driver making a Lyft delivery nearby.
“All the evidence will show that on Aug. 8, 2022, Gardiel Solorio was executed,” Lewin said. “Shot five times through a car window as he prepared to work out at a gym on a Monday afternoon in Downey.”
Delcid’s attorney, Rick Sternfeld, asked the jury to be critical of the evidence before making their decision on the charges. A witness description of the suspect would not match Delcid, he said. He said he was confident the jury would find Delcid not guilty of the robbery charge.
Prosecutors identified Sanchez as the driver of a black Honda Accord seen on surveillance video just past 3:15 p.m. in the parking lot of the Downey Landing Shopping Center. Lewin said the group was “looking for a car they could use to get away from the cops.”
As Sanchez drove from one area of the parking lot to another near an LA Fitness, Solorio is seen allowing the Accord to get in front of his black Dodge Charger, but once they both get stuck behind a work truck, Solorio goes around both vehicles to get to a parking spot on the far east side of the parking lot.
The Accord follows, then makes a right turn southbound before turning back around and stopping just past Solorio’s car. Solorio did not get out of his car right away, Lewin said.
“As he’s sitting there, they are already planning what they were going to do,” Lewin said, adding that video from the dashcam appeared to show Delcid putting a facemask on in the car.
After the Accord stopped, a man identified as Delcid gets out wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, black facemask and long pants. He approaches the driver’s side of the Charger with a handgun and in seconds, the Charger moves in reverse and five quick pops are heard on the dashcam footage.
The shooter runs back to the Accord as the Charger continues to slowly reverse, ultimately coming to rest after colliding with an SUV in the parking lot, the surveillance video shows. Sanchez, driving the accord, exits the lot and briefly goes the wrong way in traffic before cutting a vehicle off to get back on the right side of the road, video shows.
“From the time the suspect got out of the Accord to the time the suspect got back in was about 7 or 8 seconds,” Sternfeld said. “And the surveillance video doesn’t tell the whole story.”
Aside from the gunshots, no words are heard on the video from either the suspect or Solorio, Sternfeld said. A detective was expected to testify that he observed Delcid staggering and mumbling with bloodshot eyes and smelling of alcohol following his arrest.
Lewin told the jury a medical examiner would testify that three of the five shots that hit Solorio were rapidly fatal.
A witness heard the shots and saw a shooter, then attempted CPR on Solorio until police arrived about 10 minutes later. But Sternfeld said the witness described the shooter as a Black man wearing a black hoodie, which didn’t completely match Delcid.
Still, officers were able to see the license plate of the Accord on the dashcam and found it was registered to a home in Long Beach. Officers surveilled the home until the car returned about 8:30 to 9 p.m. and they arrested three people inside, including Delcid and Sanchez. In the car, which belonged to Sanchez’s sister, officers found the gray hoodie and black facemask worn by the shooter, as well as gun magazines, alcohol, marijuana and a NOS tank, or laughing gas.
The third person in the car was also taken into custody, but was released after investigators learned he was picked up by Sanchez after the shooting had occurred.
At one point Monday, Delcid appeared to chuckle while watching body-worn video of an officer asking for his name as he lay in an ambulance, after which Delcid replied “Do your (expletive) job, (expletive).”
Magallanes was arrested three days later, Lewin said. Much of the audio from the Perkins operations played during opening statements came from Magallanes, who allegedly told the undercover officers they wanted to steal a car and “go ride.”
Magallanes would also admit to giving Delcid the gun before the shooting.
Gardiel Solorio had been hired by the Monterey Park Police Department in January, 2022, eight months before he was killed. He was weeks into a field-training program when the shooting occurred.
Solorio’s older brother, Carlos, whom he shared a room with in their Bell Gardens home, testified Monday that there was no reason to believe Gardiel Solorio was in any danger as he left the house to go to the gym.
“He was a very liked person,” Carlos Solorio said of Gardiel, adding that he would make friends anywhere he went. “He would run around the block and people would often ask me about him.”
A car being pursued by California Highway Patrol officers early Sunday, Jan. 25 flew off the 105 Freeway and crashed to the ground below near Los Angeles International Airport, the CHP said.
The driver’s face was bloody, and he appeared dazed after El Segundo firefighters cut him out of a Chevrolet Camaro, as seen in a video by freelance news organization OnScene.TV. The man was arrested and hospitalized.
California Highway Patrol officers arrest a man who they say led them on a pursuit early Jan. 25, 2026, before crashing off the 105 Freeway near Los Angeles International Airport. (Photo by OnScene.TV)
The pursuit began when officers attempted to pull over the car for speeding on the westbound 10 Freeway at Vincent Avenue, CHP spokeswoman Megan Curtiss said. The driver failed to stop, and the crash happened around 2:07 a.m. near N. Nash Street and Imperial Highway, she said.
A California Highway Patrol officer looks down on a crash scene after a car being pursued flew off the 105 Freeway near Los Angeles International Airport early on Jan. 25, 2026. (Photo by OnScene.TV)
The OnScene.TV footage showed a red sedan that was apparently involved in a collision at the end of the pursuit. The video also showed a gun that the CHP had seized, as well as a saw and a computer device. No details about those items were available on Sunday.
A 15-year-old boy who went missing in Denver on Thursday is described by police as an Alaska Native who was last seen wearing a baggy black and white checkered outfit.
Missing Indigenous Person Alert Activation Michael Davis, described as a 15-year-old Alaskan Native male, last seen at 11:00 AM January 22, 2026 in the 1000 block of North Cherokee Street in Denver, Colorado.
Shaida Ghaemi was last seen Sept. 9, 2007, in Wheat Ridge. (Photo courtesy Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Arash Ghaemi has wondered for 18 years what happened to his mother after she disappeared from a Wheat Ridge motel.
So Ghaemi, an artificial intelligence developer and entrepreneur, turned his profession into his passion.
“What if I can get the case files and run it through AI?” he said of the police investigation into his mother’s disappearance. “Maybe it will show me something and make the connections. If I could build it to solve my mom’s case, I could likely build it to solve other cases.”
Ghaemi launched CrimeOwl, an AI program that searches cold-case files to generate new leads for investigators, last year.
So far, the AI platform is in the hands of a few private investigators who are using it to chase leads on behalf of families searching for missing loved ones. Ghaemi hopes one day the program will have its big break in solving a case, and maybe — just maybe — it will help figure out what happened to his mother, Shaida Ghaemi, when she disappeared in 2007.
Ghaemi, who goes by “Ash,” on Tuesday met with investigators, information-technology staff and commanders at the Wheat Ridge Police Department to show off his AI tool and to ask for an update on his mother’s case.
For now, Wheat Ridge police say CrimeOwl is too unproven to use in the department’s investigations, including Shaida Ghaemi’s disappearance.
And they are tight-lipped about her case.
“We were really happy to meet with Ash. It’s part of our philosophy of relationship policing,” said Alex Rose, a Wheat Ridge police spokesman. “It was a twofold meeting to explain what we could about the case and to give some professional insight on the AI tool so it can become more widespread and of use to agencies across the country.”
‘Still trying to make sense of it’
When Arash Ghaemi was growing up, his mother was almost too good a mother, he said, describing her as “almost overbearing” in taking care of him and his older sister.
But when Arash was 17, his parents divorced, and everything changed.
Shaida Ghaemi became distant from her children. She left home a lot.
“It was weird,” he said. “She went from always needing to be in contact with me and my sister to she could take it or leave it.”
Shaida Ghaemi did not have a permanent home and did not have a job, her son, now 40, said. She traveled between Colorado and Maryland, where her parents lived.
In 2007 — five years after the divorce — she moved into the American Motel in Wheat Ridge with her boyfriend, Jude Peters.
“I am still trying to make sense of it,” he said of the changes in his mother’s behavior.
Arash Ghaemi was a 22-year-old server at a Red Robin restaurant in Highlands Ranch when his grandfather called from Maryland on a September night and told him they were unable to reach his mother. He asked his grandson to call the police.
Shaida Ghaemi, then 44, was last seen on Sept. 9, 2007, by Peters. Drops of her blood were found in their motel room. At the time, Peters told 9News it was menstrual blood and that Ghaemi often left for months at a time.
Wheat Ridge police still consider her disappearance a missing-person case, and there is no “clear indication of foul play,” Rose said. “Jude is not considered a person of interest in this investigation at this time,” Rose said of Peters.
“They still don’t know where she’s at and they don’t have any trace of her,” Ghaemi said.
‘True value’ of AI
Artificial intelligence is gaining ground as a law enforcement tool. Multiple police departments across Colorado are using the technology, most commonly for converting body-worn camera footage into written crime reports. It’s also being used to track license plates and to scan people’s faces.
The Wheat Ridge Police Department uses Axon’s Draft One to help write police reports, based on their body-worn camera footage.
“Our officers know they’re accountable for every single word,” Rose said. “It gives them a who, what, when and where and can save them time, but it’s not a substitution for good police work.”
Ghaemi launched CrimeOwl about six months ago. He is also developing AI programs for the dental industry and a new sports statistics program that could eventually be used by the NBA.
He programmed CrimeOwl to sort through all of the documents in a case file and build a map of the people connected to the missing person, such as partners, family, close friends and neighbors. The AI also creates a timeline of events leading to the disappearance or death and then maps all of the geographic locations connected to the crime, he said.
The platform has a chat function so investigators can ask the AI to sift through files to find answers to their questions.
While CrimeOwl was designed to help with missing-persons cases, Ghaemi said he hopes it can be used to solve other crimes.
No police departments have bought the product so far.
Ghaemi, who lives in Miami, said he tested CrimeOwl on a solved cold case in Florida and, after uploading the police case file into his program, the AI created a list of credible suspects within 30 minutes, he said. Police confirmed it had identified the actual perpetrator, he said.
“It took me 30 minutes to do what it could have taken them weeks or months to do,” Ghaemi said. “That’s the true value here.”
Not ready for police use
CrimeOwl, however, is not ready for active law enforcement investigations, Rose said.
The CrimeOwl platform would need to be secure so no one could tamper with the evidence once it is uploaded, Rose said. It would need to receive various certifications before any law enforcement agency used it, he said.
It would also need to be vetted by lawyers so any leads it generated would hold up at trial, he said.
“There are a lot of details and a lot of hypotheticals that would need to be heavily vetted for AI technology in a real-world police setting,” Rose said.
Still, Wheat Ridge police are intrigued by Ghaemi’s AI tool and were more than willing to offer advice and expertise, he said.
“We’re always going to applaud somebody who is trying to use technology to find ways to help,” Rose said.
Ghaemi said the Wheat Ridge investigators declined to hand over his mother’s case file because of the security concerns. He had wanted to upload those documents into CrimeOwl to see if it could generate new leads.
Police officials also told him that if they used CrimeOwl to identify a suspect, that person’s defense attorney would likely argue bias since the AI platform was built by the missing woman’s son, Ghaemi said.
“My stance is it has been 18 years. You guys have passed it on to other investigators. It’s not solving the case,” he said. “I’m willing to take that risk.”
Ghaemi hopes to overcome the legal barriers and law enforcement skepticism before his new company folds under financial pressure. He said CrimeOwl has a revenue stream, but it loses money every month.
“I built this thing with a mission in mind at first,” he said. “I didn’t really know how it would work or if it would work or if I would go broke. Even if it’s not me and CrimeOwl went broke tomorrow and we had to shutter the doors, I just want investigators to use AI to solve these cold cases.”
LOWELL — The murder retrial of Billy, Billoeum, and Channa Phan is officially ready to proceed.
Jury impanelment is scheduled to begin in Middlesex Superior Court on Monday morning — or Tuesday if the winter storm forces the Kiernan Judicial Center to close.
The schedule was set on Friday during the final pretrial hearing, where Judge Chris Barry-Smith also denied a defense motion to dismiss the indictment against one of the three brothers, each charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of 22-year-old Tyrone Phet outside his Lowell home in 2020.
Barry-Smith rejected the bid by attorney William Dolan, who represents defendant Channa Phan, ruling that although the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office failed to turn over information tied to a gang-motive theory in a timely fashion, the lapse did not rise to the level requiring dismissal.
Prosecutors have argued the residence functioned as a stash house for the Outlaws, street gang, which they claim the Phan brothers are members of. Due to the shooting, a search warrant was obtained by the Lowell Police for the Wilder Street home, where officers seized guns, ammunition, 200 grams of cocaine, and 100,000 pressed pills containing methamphetamine.
The shooting — allegedly carried out by rival gang Crazy Mob Family — triggered a retaliatory motive for the killing of Phet less than 24 hours later.
Phet was not alleged to be a CMF member, but prosecutors contend he lived in the same Spring Avenue building where a CMF member once resided.
Phet was shot to death in a hail of gunfire while sitting in his car outside the multi-family residence at 55 Spring Ave. Phet — a 2016 Chelmsford High graduate and captain of the football team his senior year — was struck eight times during the shooting.
The Lowell Police recovered 21 spent shell casings at the scene from two different caliber guns.
Barry‑Smith said the prosecution’s decision to pursue a broader gang theory in the retrial “not surprisingly” prompted the defense to seek all information police and prosecutors possessed about the Wilder Street shooting and subsequent search warrant.
Prior to the first trial — which ended in a mistrial after jurors became deadlocked —prosecutors turned over the police report about the incident but not the underlying investigative materials, Barry‑Smith said. That omission was not a major point of contention at the time because the initial trial’s lead prosecutor — former Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Daniel Harren — had elected not to pursue a wide‑ranging gang theory.
Once the new prosecution team sought to expand that scope, Barry‑Smith said, they were obligated to produce the full set of Wilder Street information — something they did not do until recent weeks.
“The Commonwealth’s principal shortcoming is that failure to produce Wilder Street information once it determined Wilder Street was relevant to the case,” Barry‑Smith said, adding that a secondary issue was that prosecutors “were not adequately familiar” with what evidence had been turned over during the first four years of the case, leading to a misunderstanding.
The judge described the discovery violation as the product of “mistake, inadvertence, misunderstanding, and a failure to be fully familiar” with prior disclosures — not an attempt to ambush the defense.
“It was not delivered, nor was it designed to spring evidence upon the defense,” Barry‑Smith said.
The judge reiterated that he has already denied the Commonwealth’s request to expand the scope of gang evidence for the retrial, calling the proposed showing “too thin.”
The Wilder Street material may be considered for rebuttal, but that will depend on how the trial unfolds.
Because prosecutors have since turned over the missing materials, and because the expanded gang theory will not be permitted, Barry‑Smith said dismissal was not warranted.
“I don’t find that the District Attorney’s Office’s conduct was purposeful or egregious,” he said.
As for jury selection, the expectation is it will take two days to get the needed pool of 16 jurors.
The trial will run daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, with an hour‑long lunch break. Barry‑Smith said the case is expected to conclude by the end of the week of Feb. 9.
Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Thomas Brant told Barry-Smith that the prosecution intends to call more than 40 witnesses.
Brant also raised a scheduling wrinkle: Feb. 8 is Super Bowl Sunday, and with the New England Patriots still in contention for a spot in Super Bowl 60 as of the hearing, juror availability and the scheduling of witnesses could be affected.
“I don’t care, and my desire is to move the case as quickly as possible, but …” Brant said.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Barry‑Smith replied, adding that he may delay the Feb. 9 start time to as late as 10 a.m.
“I might delay things on that Monday, but I’m not going to call it off,” he said.’
The Sun will publish weekly wrap-ups on the trial’s progress, with summaries appearing this Sunday and again on Feb. 8. A final story detailing the verdict will follow shortly after the jury reaches a decision, with the latest possible publication date being Feb. 15.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
Littleton Public Schools agreed Thursday to pay $3.85 million to the families of three children who are autistic and were abused by a school bus monitor.
The school board voted unanimously to approve the settlement Thursday, slightly more than two weeks after former bus monitor Kiarra Jones pleaded guilty to abusing the three boys while they were riding the bus to and from The Joshua School, a private school in Englewood.
Littleton Public Schools was contracted to bus the students, who are nonverbal and autistic, to and from school each day. Jones abused the boys on their bus rides for about six months, between September 2023 and March 2024, before authorities discovered surveillance video that showed the woman elbowing, stomping and punching the students.
The boys’ parents frequently asked teachers and officials at The Joshua School about their sons’ unexplained bruises and injuries while the abuse was going on, but school officials claimed the children were injuring themselves.
The families have filed a lawsuit against The Joshua School, alleging that school officials mishandled their concerns and never reported suspicions of abuse to outside authorities, enabling the monitor’s abuse.
In a statement, attorneys from Denver law firm Rathod Mohamedbhai said the three families appreciate the school district’s willingness to resolve the case early to allow for the children to start healing.
“No parent should have to wonder if their children will come home from school hurt by the very people entrusted to care for them,” attorneys for the families said Thursday night.
Littleton Public Schools has changed policies around reviewing and retaining bus surveillance, according to the statement.
“The families continue to advocate for the rights of their children and for the dignity and rights of the Autism community as a whole,” attorneys for the three families said. “They continue to seek accountability and justice from everyone who played a role in not ending the abuse against their children sooner through their ongoing lawsuit against The Joshua School.”
Joshua School Executive Director Cindy Lystad previously issued a statement that put blame for the abuse on Littleton Public Schools and said the school stands by teachers and staff members.
School board members did not comment on the settlement before or after approving it Thursday night, but district officials posted a letter online from Superintendent Todd Lambert addressing the settlement shortly after the vote.
The settlement will be “fully funded through insurance” and will have “no adverse impact on the educational services LPS students receive,” Lambert wrote.
“We will continue to look for ways to strengthen our practices, to communicate transparently with you, and to do everything in our power to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of every student in our care,” he wrote.
A Colorado man is facing a felony charge after police say he struck and killed a pedestrian in Denver’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, according to court records.
Alejandro Sifuentes, 29, was arrested Jan. 7, five days after Denver police say he hit 19-year-old Angelo Simpson while Simpson was crossing North Kalamath Street near West 11th Avenue on the evening of Jan. 2.
Sifuentes was initially arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident involving death, both felonies, according to an arrest affidavit.
Court records on Thursday showed he is charged with one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death.
Witnesses told police a gray Honda SUV was speeding at 100 mph when it hit Simpson as he was crossing the street in a crosswalk, according to an affidavit.
Investigators found the Honda with front-end and windshield damage parked in front of a Lakewood home, and tipsters later told police that Sifuentes talked about hitting someone while he was driving too fast to stop.
Sifuentes also told people he went to a friend’s house, cleaned blood off the vehicle and put a cover over it, then got rid of his phone and bought a new one “so he could not be followed,” according to the affidavit.
After he was arrested, Sifuentes told detectives he had tried to swerve before hitting Simpson, then panicked and left the scene.
Sifuentes previously pleaded guilty to second-degree assault involving strangulation and third-degree assault in a 2022 domestic violence case, court records show. He was sentenced to a two-year deferred prison sentence and 12 months of probation in April 2023.
He also has two open criminal cases for violating a court order in June and for domestic violence assault in December.
Sifuentes is in custody at the Denver Downtown Detention Center and is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 5.
Students at a Douglas County elementary school were evacuated Thursday morning after an iPad exploded and set off a fire alarm, district officials said.
The device exploded in a technology office at Mammoth Heights Elementary School at 9500 Stonegate Pkwy, Douglas County School District spokesperson Paula Hans said in an email.
That office space is not used by students, and the one staff member in the room was not injured, Hans said.
The explosion set off the fire alarm and evacuated the school. South Metro Fire Rescue crews responded and determined it was safe for students and staff to return to the building, Hans said.
The incident left a small burn mark on the office floor, she added.
South Metro officials confirmed crews responded to a hazardous materials call at the school at 10:58 a.m. and said there was no threat to the community.
Traffic deaths in Colorado increased in 2025, reversing a decline in recent years, with about one in three deaths related to impaired driving, according to state data released Thursday.
Colorado Department of Transportation officials said that, while the increase is small, they see troubling trends and plan to refocus safety efforts around impaired driving and deaths involving pedestrians and bicyclists.
A total of 701 people died on Colorado roads in 2025, an increase of 1.7% over the 689 fatalities reported in 2024, the data show. The number is still below the a record-setting 764 fatalities in 2022.
Impaired driving remains a leading factor in traffic deaths, CDOT officials said in a news release. CDOT recorded 234 deaths in crashes involving an impaired driver in 2025. Since 2022, impaired driving-related fatalities have decreased by 18%, state records show.
A breakdown of CDOT’s 2025 numbers shows the fatalities included 124 pedestrians, 18 bicyclists, and 146 motorcyclists. Car and truck crashes accounted for 392 fatalities.
CDOT and the Colorado State Patrol plan increased patrols aimed at “removing impaired drivers from our roads,” Col. Matthew Packard, chief of the patrol, said in a statement. “Even if you think you’re OK to drive, the consequences of impaired driving are never worth the risk. Use a ride-share service, public transportation, or call a sober friend. Your commitment to sober driving could save a life.”
A Gary Police officer has been placed on unpaid leave following a Jan. 17 arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Corporal John H. Artibey Jr. was arrested following an encounter with Indiana State Police on Interstate 94 in Porter County, according to court documents. Artibey, a Chesterton resident and 20-year veteran of the department, was charged with operating while intoxicated with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony, and misdemeanor operating while intoxicated.
A press release from the Gary Police Department said it took immediate administrative action by placing Artibey on unpaid leave pending the outcome of criminal proceedings and an internal investigation.
“Public trust is the cornerstone of effective policing, and we are committed to preserving it,” said Police chief Derrick Cannon in a statement on Facebook. “This incident is not a reflection of the Gary Police Department as a whole, nor does it diminish the hard work our officers do every day to keep ur city safe. We will continue to serve with the highest standards and professionalism our community deserves.”
Court records show that Artibey pled guilty in 2023 to operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol concentration between .08 and .15, a Class C misdemeanor. Judge Christopher Buckley sentenced him to 60 days in jail, but he already had credit for 1 day served and Buckley suspended the remainder of the term.
In 2021, Artibey received an Officer of the Year commendation at the District One Law Enforcement Awards, based on his actions when he and another officer rescued a woman who was abducted while walking home from work and dragged into an abandoned building in January 2018, according to Post-Tribune archives.
A Colorado snowboarder died after crashing into the snow on a black diamond run at Keystone Ski Resort on Monday afternoon, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The crash happened about 2 p.m. when a man from the Front Range crashed on Lower Go Devil, a black diamond run near Mountain House, sheriff’s officials said on social media.
The man was riding with several friends when he crashed and hit the snow “with force,” the sheriff’s office said. He was wearing a helmet, and investigators do not believe he hit any trees, blunt objects or other people.
Keystone Ski Patrol started medical care and brought the man to the resort medical center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the agency. His death is under investigation, and his name will be released by the Summit County coroner’s office.
Keystone officials confirmed the 32-year-old man was involved in a “serious incident” on an advanced trail on Dercum Mountain and, after receiving emergency care, was pronounced dead at the medical center.
“Keystone Resort, Keystone Ski Patrol and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our guest’s family and friends,” Keystone Resort Vice President and General Manager Shannon Buhler said in a statement.
This is the second death on Keystone’s slopes this month, after a man was found unresponsive Jan. 7 on The Grizz in the resort’s Outback area.
