A man in his 20s was underwater and had not resurfaced for more than nine minutes, according to the department.
Divers found the man around 5:34 p.m., according to officials, and first responders performed CPR. The man was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, according to a 5:41 p.m. update on X.
Coloradans looking to buy homes or simply hold onto their property face a barrage of challenges: a white-hot real estate market, high interest rates and soaring property taxes. You can add surging home insurance rates to the pile of problems eroding the landscape of affordable housing options.
Colorado homeowners are reporting premium increases ranging from roughly 30% to more than 130% in just the past few years. People are getting the bad news that their policies won’t be renewed. Some insurance companies are deciding not to write new policies to cut their risks.
And condo owners are getting hit with special assessments and higher dues because premiums are skyrocketing for homeowners associations. The groups must often resort to non-standard carriers, which typically charge sky-high rates for lesser coverage.
“We truly have the hardest market that we’ve seen in a generation for property insurance,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the trade organization Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
Colorado’s not alone. Inflation, higher home costs and the rising number and severity of natural disasters and wildfires are pushing up insurance costs. The average premium rate increase nationwide in 2023 was 11.3%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
But Colorado’s recent increases stand out. The state was one of three with the biggest cumulative change in rates 2018-2023. Colorado logged a 57.9% jump, just behind Texas at 59.9%. Arizona saw a 52.9% increase.
A convergence of factors is driving the run-up in costs, Walker said. Higher inflation is one of those. “You have everything that insurance pays for going up in cost.”
Building materials are more expensive. Labor costs are up and labor shortages create delays and add to the expense. Walker said insurance-related lawsuits also help push up premiums.
An even larger force is the fallout from increasingly costly wildfires, hail storms and other disasters. Insurance companies doing business in Colorado reported the fourth-highest losses in the country for five years, according to data compiled for a 2023 report by the Colorado Division of Insurance.
“I hate to say it, but we all likely need to adjust to higher premiums over the long term,” Walker said.
The effects of the mounting risks are being felt by a lesser known, but crucial link in the chain that connects to homeowners: the reinsurance market. Reinsurers are typically large, global companies that provide insurance to insurance companies to help spread the risk.
“The international impact of climate change, of increasing climate disasters, the severity of those disasters is causing reinsurers to consider their risk, reduce their exposure or increase their premiums,” said Vince Plymell, spokesman for the insurance division.
As a result, the effects of hurricanes and earthquakes in other parts of the country or world can eventually show up in a Colorado homeowner’s insurance bill, said Jason Lapham, the state’s deputy commissioner for property and casualty insurance.
Closer to home are the growing risks of wildfire and hail storms. Colorado is second in the nation for hail-damage claims and second only to California for the number of homes at risk from wildfires. Colorado hasn’t seen the kind of wide scale refusal of companies to write new policies that California has, but Lapham said there is a trend of some companies not re-upping policies in areas prone to wildfires or other disasters or taking “a pause” on new clients.
“It doesn’t mean they’re leaving the state entirely, but for those people who are affected, the effect is the same,” Lapham said.
State officials don’t have a lot of insight into the modeling used by companies to decide which areas are too risky to insure, Lapham said. “We’re focused on getting a better understanding and creating transparency, not just for us but also for policy holders.”
Levi Ware, project manager from Red Hawk Roofing company from Denver, takes pictures of a roof damaged by large hail and a tornado along Chesapeake Street in Highlands Ranch on June 23, 2023. A rare tornado hit the Highlands Ranch area Thursday afternoon causing damage to roofs and uprooting large trees. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
What’s worse than rising premiums?
There were plenty of insurance options for Bryan Watts and his wife when they bought a house in Guffey in Park County, west of Cripple Creek. The premium was about $2,000 in 2019 and rose gradually to $2,522 for the 2023-2024 policy year.
“Things changed dramatically in August 2023 when we received a notice of non-renewal at the policy maturity of June 2024,” Watts said. “I called them and was told it was simply due to wildfire risk.”
Watts tried to reason with the company, saying he had done a lot of work to reduce threats from wildfire. He offered to send pictures of his home or show an inspector around his property. But the insurer told him that it wasn’t going to cover homes in his zip code.
“I thought, ‘Well, no big deal. I’ll just move to another carrier,’” Watts said. “I had no idea how bad it had gotten just in the last year or two.”
A broker Watts worked with found only nonstandard insurers willing to cover his home. The insurers might take on customers that more traditional companies consider too risky, but the coverage comes at a high price. In Watts’ case, the quote was for nearly $35,000.
After making calls on his own, Watts found one of the big-name companies willing to write a policy for $4,800. A hang-up for companies that turned him down was that the nearest fire station is about 16 miles from his home. “They’re looking for substations that are 10 miles or closer,” Watts said.
Like a lot of people, Watts has a mortgage on his house, which means he needs to carry insurance. “There are going to be very few people who are able to live out here without a mortgage,” he said.
Escalating home insurance premiums and companies scaling back coverage are creating angst in the real estate industry. Brian Tanner, vice president of public policy for the Colorado Association of Realtors, said agents are seeing properties lose coverage or unable to find insurance.
“All of this together is incredibly problematic for a market that we already know is strained. We need more available units,” Tanner said. “If we have existing residences that cannot secure insurance, that is absolutely a market disruptor.”
Real estate agents are scrambling to help clients to find coverage, Tanner said. He is concerned about rising rates on people on fixed incomes.
The state is creating an insurer of last resort, officially called the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, which will be paid for by assessments on the insurance industry. But it won’t be up and running until 2025 and applicants must have been turned down by at least three carriers.
Walker said the goal is to relieve pressure on the standard carriers by shifting some of the high risks, which the industry hopes will stabilize the market.
“Everybody I talk to is talking about the property insurance issue,” said Sarah Thorsteinson, CEO of the Altitude Realtors association, which includes Summit and Routt counties.
Real estate agents working in mountain communities started looking at the effect of wildfire risks on home insurance rates around 2012. That’s when the association started education and fire-mitigation programs for members and the public to head off possible mandates it worried could increase costs for buyers and sellers.
Thorsteinson represents property owners as a non-voting member of the Colorado Fire Commission. She said the association’s biggest concern with rising insurance premiums is housing affordability.
The ongoing struggle by homeowners associations, HOAs, to secure insurance has grown tougher, Thorsteinson said. She has heard of HOA dues doubling and tripling for condo owners in her area after insurance premiums shot up.
“We’ve seen increases of 100% or more for HOA policies,” said Lapham with the state insurance division.
Even before the recent rate increases, it was common for HOAs to have to seek providers in the non-standard market, also called the surplus lines market. “My guess is that it’s more common now than it has been simply because of the tightening of the market generally,” Lapham said.
Many of the more well-known insurers have gotten out of the condo business, Walker said, leaving the nonstandard carriers, whose policies are more expensive and have higher deductibles.
The more traditional insurers exited in part because of fears around construction-related lawsuits by HOAs. A 2017 law that requires a majority of homeowners to approve pursuing a lawsuit rather than just the HOA board has done little to coax insurers to write policies for condo buildings.
In some cases, HOA boards, trying to avoid raising dues, have put off infrastructure improvements and maintenance, making insurers nervous about the liabilities, Walker said.
The Hiland Hills Townhomes HOA was able to line up a new insurer in 2023, but had to budget for a 30% increase in premiums. Dues went up from $336 a month to $460 per unit.
“The coverage decreased overall. This year we’re budgeting for another 15% increase,” said Dmitry Gall, the HOA board president at the Denver complex.
The HOA was able to shuffle some items in the policy to hold down the increase. Gall said the association is cutting back in other areas to help pay the premium.
The HOA where Jon Christianson has a rental unit saw its insurance premium leap from the $167,000 budgeted last year to nearly $607,000. His fees doubled, “with a special assessment coming,” he said.
A letter from the HOA board that Christianson shared with The Denver Post said the previous insurance carrier got out of the Colorado market. Several companies declined to offer bids on a new policy because of the height and age of the three buildings in the complex and the fire suppression system.
Then the insurance for Christianson’s primary residence rose by 40%.
“I’ve never filed a claim. I’ve been with same insurance company for five years,” Christianson said. “This is becoming unsustainable.”
Carole Walker, the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, stands for a photo outside the residential building where she lives in Denver on May 7, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
A marathon, not a sprint
The Marshall fire, which killed two people and destroyed 1,084 homes and businesses, receives a lot of the blame for Colorado’s escalating home insurance rates. The Dec. 30, 2021, wildfire raged through Louisville, Superior and parts of unincorporated Boulder County, leaving more than $2 billion in property damage in its wake.
Walker said although the Marshall fire was a devastating event, the reasons for rising rates are more complex. For instance, more people are moving into areas along the Front Range that frequently get battered by hail. Walker said Colorado’s most expensive hail storm hit in May 2017, wreaking $2.7 billion in damage in today’s dollars.
But for Alan McDaniel, who has an insurance agency in Castle Rock, the threat of wildfire is the primary obstacle when looking for ways to get a handle on rising insurance costs.
“I’m lucky enough that the carrier I mostly use, Farmers Insurance, isn’t not renewing policies, but others are,” McDaniel said.
He has worked with homeowners around Larkspur and other areas deemed too risky for wildfires by some insurers. “You have to fill out a fire-mitigation plan, take pictures and prove to my underwriter that it’s worth taking on because they’ve done all the steps they need to do,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel and other insurance agents have met with fire agencies to learn more about reducing wildfire risks and programs like Firewise, a national program overseen by the state forest service in Colorado. A goal is to lower homeowners’ premiums by making changes.
“In light of the Marshall fire, we did get inquiries from some homeowners and associations that were facing increased premiums as well as potentially losing coverage,” said Bart Chambers, the fire marshal for the Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department.
Chambers has met with insurance agents to help them understand the steps needed to better protect homes and businesses. The fire department collaborates with town planners on decreasing wildfire threats and hopes to increase the number of certified Firewise neighborhoods in Castle Rock.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Chambers said. “It needs to be maintained and followed through continuously.”
Chambers spent 30 years with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“We saw that on the front end there and we’re seeing it nationally now 20 years later, not only with wildfires but also with natural disasters,” Chambers said. “In Colorado, we can look at other people’s losses and make it better locally.”
Too few parking spaces, lengthy queues for open spots, cramped designs that can’t handle crowds — Denver-area drivers brace themselves for headaches when they try to navigate the most stress-inducing parking lots in the city and beyond.
The Denver Post went searching for the worst parking lots in metro Denver, with help from more than 100 people who weighed in with their opinions in an informal survey on social media platforms X and Facebook. Within Denver’s city limits, older central neighborhoods like Capitol Hill — where space is at a premium — host parking lots that received an onslaught of criticism.
But that doesn’t mean suburban communities are immune to precarious parking set-ups.
Poor parking lot experiences can affect drivers’ loyalty to a business, one expert says. Consumers are constantly forming judgments about brands, so “parking is one of the critical elements for brands to get right,” said Brent Coker, a marketing lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
“Everything that happens to a consumer informs their attitude, which defines their future behavior,” including purchase decisions made minutes later, the Australian said. “If the carpark sucks, then yeah — that’s gonna give someone a negative attitude.”
Here are the parking lots that stand out the most in Denver:
1. Trader Joe’s urban locations
Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s has two Denver locations in older neighborhoods, with small lots that challenge drivers in Capitol Hill on Logan Street and in Hale on Colorado Boulevard.
“It’s no secret that Trader Joe’s parking lots are a nightmare,” said customer Rob Toftness, 42. “You add in their tight quarters with drivers’ inability to behave like adults, and you have a difficult recipe.”
On a rainy Monday afternoon, shoppers weren’t deterred from completing their errands at the Capitol Hill store. They stepped in front of cars waiting for openings in the lot. Drivers tried to squeeze into narrow spots, parking haphazardly before darting into the store themselves.
Four cars were queued in the left lane on Logan Street, turn signals blinking as they waited to enter.
However, for cyclists and pedestrians, the store is a breeze to navigate. Toftness, a Five Points resident, opts to ride his bike along the 7th Avenue bikeway, then locks it at the bike rack while he shops.
In an episode of the company’s podcast, Inside Trader Joe’s, co-host Matt Sloan said, “We don’t open stores with the world’s most ridiculous parking lot on purpose.” The size of a Trader Joe’s lot is based on the store’s square footage, with the chain’s locations often smaller than the average grocery store, especially when they’re squeezed into older neighborhoods.
“Stores of a more recent vintage — more recently open stores — have larger parking lots when we can get them,” Sloan added.
Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde declined to respond further.
A shopper exits a King Soopers grocery store on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, in Capitol Hill in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
2. King Soopers in Capitol Hill
The King Soopers grocery store on East Ninth Avenue leaves local customers lamenting the amount of time it can take to secure a parking spot in the main lot.
Those who choose to park in the overflow lot are also inconvenienced, as the anti-theft wheel locks on shopping carts engage at the edges of the main lot, forcing patrons to carry their groceries across a busy street. Nine cars idled in the parking lot on a Monday afternoon, as drivers tried to park or back out of spots.
Kara King, 33, said she’s never secured a parking spot on her first go-round.
“You constantly have to circle the lot, waiting for one to open up,” the Speer neighborhood resident said. “Otherwise, your option is to park on the street and haul your groceries to your car.”
King Soopers spokesperson Jessica Trowbridge didn’t respond to requests for comment.
3. Whole Foods Market in Cherry Creek
At the Whole Foods Market on East First Avenue in Cherry Creek, customers’ criticisms are largely directed at its lot design.
“Whole Foods in Cherry Creek is awful,” said customer Krista Chism, 48. “All the spaces are designed for compact cars.”
She called the lanes “too narrow,” which heightens the risk of hitting another vehicle parked behind her car while reversing. When she visits, “I seriously weigh the cost of paying to park against the possible cost of someone hitting my car,” the Park Hill resident said.
The Whole Foods media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
4. Denver Botanic Gardens
Visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens often comes with parking difficulties on busy weekends, despite a dedicated parking garage. The gardens are most heavily trafficked by guests during events, including Blossoms of Light, Glow at the Gardens, the Spring Plant Sale and the Summer Concert Series, said Erin Bird, associate director of communications. Popular times for visitors also include warm, sunny weekends and Scientific and Cultural Facilities District free days.
Bird said representatives understood visitors’ parking frustrations and urged guests to take extra time to secure parking in either the garage or the surrounding neighborhood.
“The Gardens’ multi-level parking structure was designed to maximize the limited space we have due to our location that borders city parks in an established residential neighborhood,” she said. “Timed entry has eased some of the parking strain.”
Denver’s flagship REI store on the South Platte River, pictured on Sept. 11, 2012, has a front surface lot (shown), an underground garage and auxiliary lots. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)
5. REI Co-op’s flagship store
The REI Co-Op Denver flagship store on Platte Street near downtown is the source of consistent parking gripes, including tight spaces, incidents of bike theft and the price to pay to park for lengthy shopping trips (after a 90-minute grace period).
Patrons say the outdoor co-op attracts the most crowds during the weekend, but that doesn’t mean its ground-level parking areas don’t fill up at times during the week, too. On a recent Wednesday evening, the metered street parking was also mostly occupied as a few customers dashed across the busy street to the former Denver Tramway Powerhouse building that now houses the retail chain.
The REI store earns 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google reviews, but at least 20 one-star reviews mention parking troubles. The designs of one surface parking lot and the underground garage are noted as cramped. One reviewer wrote: “The store itself really is great. But PLEASE fix the parking.”
The REI media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What about the suburbs?
Outside of Denver, plenty of parking lots throughout the metro area give shoppers and visitors grief, too. Here are some notable ones:
Costco: The warehouse club chain’s locations in Lone Tree, on Park Meadows Center Drive, and in Arvada, on Wadsworth Boulevard, draw particular complaints about parking lots that rattle the nerves. Costco stores face guff elsewhere, too: On Reddit, a thread asking the question “What’s your Costco’s parking lot situation?” has garnered hundreds of responses. Objections include waiting for spots during busy shopping hours and aggression in parking lots, such as honking, cursing and even car accidents. The Costco media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Construction workers pour concrete in the upper parking lot at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre on Feb. 6, 2024, in Morrison. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Red Rocks Amphitheatre: The Denver-owned venue is considered the pride and joy of the local music scene — but its parking, not so much. After a packed concert, drivers can look forward to sitting in their vehicles for long periods as they inch toward the venue’s exits. And they can’t turn to public transportation either — although that could change if a proposal for public shuttles to and from a nearby light rail stop in Golden gains traction.
This year’s Red Rocks season kicked off in April, but the venue used the offseason to pave some lots, increase roadside parking, and install new sidewalks and lighting to the south lots, Denver Arts & Venues spokesperson Brian Kitts said. The city also plans to add bathroom facilities and some covered spaces for patrons.
“Being in a city park, especially one with property in National Historic Landmark status, means that what Red Rocks can do with parking is fairly limited,” Kitts said. “New lots, new entrances and new roads through the foothills aren’t feasible, so visitors will continue to rely on the patience and kindness of fellow concert goers for ingress and egress.”
Is there a bad parking lot we missed? Tell us about it!
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Tuesday marks five years since a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch, where senior Kendrick Castillo saved countless lives when he rushed a shooter inside a classroom.
On Saturday, Kendrick’s Ale was tapped at Max Taps in Highlands Ranch. The beer is brewed by Strange Craft Beer Company in honor of Kendrick and raises money for different initiatives each year.
“We raise a glass to remember Kendrick,” said his father, John Castillo. “Kendrick was an individual that was never about himself. It was always about other people. So, he wouldn’t want all of the fuss. As a proud mama and father, I think that, you know, we know Kendrick’s worthy of that, and deserves it.”
This year, the money raised goes toward changing the name of Lucent Boulevard to Kendrick Castillo Way. Lucent Boulevard is near the STEM School in Highlands Ranch.
“The renaming of Kendrick Castillo Way from Lucent Boulevard is kind of something personal for us in the community. It will outlive Maria and I, once we’re done, there’ll be something there that will carry on Kendrick’s name,” said John. “Anybody you find who deals with these tragedies, I think the only thing they really want is for their loved one not to be forgotten.”
‘Raise a pint to Kendrick’: Special beer raises money to dedicate road to Kendrick Castillo
One dollar of every pint sold will go toward changing the street name.
“I don’t have a solid figure, to be honest with you. I know that the requirements for CDOT to change the highway signs up 470 is quite costly. So, there is a huge amount that needs to be raised,” John said. “There’s a lot of people coming together to try to make this happen.”
Kendrick’s Ale will be sold until it runs out at both Max Taps locations and at Strange Craft Beer Company. There are also shirts sold at the three locations, and the money from those sales goes toward the same goal.
Donations can also be made to support changing the name of Lucent Boulevard to Kendrick Castillo Way.
According to Douglas County, the name change would still need to go through a public process before becoming a reality.
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Douglas County has filed a lawsuit against the State of Colorado over what it’s calling “unconstitutional” immigration laws that “prohibit local government from cooperating with federal immigration.
The lawsuit was filed Monday morning.
It targets two laws signed by Gov. Jared Polis in recent years. The first is House Bill 19-1124, which prohibits law enforcement from assisting in non-criminal immigration and prohibits probation officers from giving information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. The second law this lawsuit targets is House Bill 23-1100, which prohibits local governments from entering into intergovernmental agreements with the federal government for civil immigration enforcement.
Douglas County Commissioners George Teal, Abe Laydon and Lora Thomas were joined by other local leaders Monday morning as they announced the lawsuit.
“It is our intent to bring suit specifically to address the illegal immigration crisis,” said Commissioner Teal.
Commissioner Teal, along with others, said during the press conference that the purpose of the lawsuit is to prevent an influx of immigrants in Douglas County, like the one seen in Denver in the past year.
“Federal policies along the southern border has resulted in an unlimited string of illegal immigrants into our communities and we see it as the duty of the county to push back against the state laws that prohibit us from working with federal authorities to keep Douglas County and our communities safe,” Teal said.
David Walcher, undersheriff for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said if successful, the lawsuit would allow law enforcement officers to have more communication with federal officials, like ICE.
Douglas County sues State of Colorado over what it calls ‘unconstitutional’ immigration laws
“What we need is communication and cooperation, and probably most importantly, information sharing with our federal partners,” he said. “I would really like to see more information sharing so we can act upon what we learned from our federal partners, and they can act upon what they learned from us.”
El Paso County also joined in on the lawsuit against the state. El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner was present during the press conference as well. She echoed the same message Douglas County Commissioners had, saying law enforcement officials in that community want more enforcement abilities.
“We are very frustrated and our sheriff is very frustrated with the way that his hands have been tied in the effort to keep our community safe,” Geitner said.
Gov. Polis’ office said they will not comment on pending litigation.
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The driver involved in last week’s fatal crash that killed a Highlands Ranch teenager on his way to middle school has been arrested, the sheriff’s office announced Wednesday.
The driver — 52-year-old Ruben Amaro-Morones — was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of careless driving causing death, careless driving causing serious bodily injury and failing to obey a traffic signal, according to a Wednesday news release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Amaro-Morones was traveling eastbound on Highlands Ranch Parkway in the far right lane as he approached the intersection and had a red light, the release stated.
When Amaro-Morones ran the light in his van, he collided with Mackiewicz and threw the boy from his electric skateboard before coming to a stop on the opposite side of the intersection, according to Wednesday’s release.
According to the release, Amaro-Morones was arrested Wednesday and transported to the Douglas County Detention Facility.
Investigators do not believe that speeding was a factor in the crash, the sheriff’s office stated in the release.
“This was a tragedy that has impacted not only Alex’s family but the entire Highlands Ranch community,” Sheriff Darren Weekly stated in the release. “As the sheriff, I take traffic safety very seriously, and we will continue to work hard to make our roadways safer through public education and traffic enforcement.”
A Missouri woman was killed in 1989. Three men are now charged in the crime
Updated: 1:26 AM EST Feb 23, 2024
DAUGHTER ABOUT THIS NEWS 100% OUT OF THE BLUE. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY. I MEAN, MY JAW DROPPED 40 YEARS AFTER HER MOTHER WAS LAST SEEN IN MASSACHUSETTS. MEGAN SMITH GOT A CALL FROM FLORIDA. SHE COULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED. WE KNEW IT WAS HER 100%. THE WOMAN ONLY KNOWN AS BROWARD COUNTY, JANE DOE, 1984, WAS HER MOTHER, LORI KASI IDENTIF SIDE. ALL THESE YEARS LATER, USING DNA, I GUESS IT’S CLOSURE THAT I NEVER REALLY KNEW THAT I NEEDED. UM, YOU KNOW, WHEN I HEARD IT, IT REALLY, LIKE, OPENED SOMETHING UP AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS THERE. MEGAN WAS JUST FIVE WHEN HER MOTHER VANISHED IN 1983. HER PARENTS WERE DIVORCED, AND SHE LAST SAW HER MOM WHEN SHE DROPPED HER OFF AT HER DAD’S HOUSE JUST MONTHS LATER. A WOMAN’S BODY WAS FOUND FLOATING IN A SOUTH FLORIDA CANAL. THE VICTIM OF A HOMICIDE, BUT SHE COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED. WE KNEW THAT SHE WAS MARRIED TO A PRETTY INFAMOUS CRIME FAMILY AND WE THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, IT WAS THE EARLY 80S. WE THOUGHT THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF TROUBLE THERE. IT’S NOT CLEAR WHAT TOOK HER 23 YEAR OLD MOTHER TO FLORIDA, BUT MEGAN SUSPECTS SHE MAY NOW GET MORE ANSWERS AS THE DECADES OLD MYSTERY BEGINS TO UNRAVEL. I FEEL A SENSE OF PEACE. OF COURSE, I WOULD WANT JUSTICE, BUT I’M OKAY WHERE I’M AT. THE FACT THAT I KNOW NOW IS REALLY BE ENOUGH FOR ME. AND AT THIS POINT, NO ONE HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN THIS CASE, BUT POLICE IN DAVIE, FLORIDA, JUST OUTSIDE FORT LAUDERDALE, ARE LOOKING FO
A Missouri woman was killed in 1989. Three men are now charged in the crime
Updated: 1:26 AM EST Feb 23, 2024
Authorities in Missouri say a 35-year cold case killing has been solved, thanks to someone who came forward with information about the crime.Douglas County authorities announced Wednesday that three men have been arrested and indicted on first-degree murder, forcible rape and first-degree kidnapping charges in the 1989 killing of 24-year-old Kelle Ann Workman. Court records show that the men do not yet have listed attorneys. All three are jailed on $250,000 cash-only bond.Video above: Massachusetts woman identified as victim in 40-year-old cold caseWorkman was last seen cutting the grass at a rural cemetery in southwestern Missouri on June 30, 1989. Her body was found submerged in a creek more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away a week later.“I think we’re able to give Kelle some justice and hopefully give the family some closure, knowing that these guys are not here running around and simply getting away with it,” Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase said at a news conference.Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Weatherman said the information from the person who came forward is “rock-solid.”Asked if he was confident in the case, Weatherman said, “It’s as good as a 1989 case can ever be.”Workman was last seen at the Dogwood Cemetery near a Baptist church in a rural area of Douglas County. Several people joined police in searching for her. Her body was found on July 7, 1989, in a creek near Oldfield, Missouri.
AVA, Mo. —
Authorities in Missouri say a 35-year cold case killing has been solved, thanks to someone who came forward with information about the crime.
Douglas County authorities announced Wednesday that three men have been arrested and indicted on first-degree murder, forcible rape and first-degree kidnapping charges in the 1989 killing of 24-year-old Kelle Ann Workman. Court records show that the men do not yet have listed attorneys. All three are jailed on $250,000 cash-only bond.
Video above: Massachusetts woman identified as victim in 40-year-old cold case
Workman was last seen cutting the grass at a rural cemetery in southwestern Missouri on June 30, 1989. Her body was found submerged in a creek more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away a week later.
“I think we’re able to give Kelle some justice and hopefully give the family some closure, knowing that these guys are not here running around and simply getting away with it,” Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase said at a news conference.
Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Weatherman said the information from the person who came forward is “rock-solid.”
Asked if he was confident in the case, Weatherman said, “It’s as good as a 1989 case can ever be.”
Workman was last seen at the Dogwood Cemetery near a Baptist church in a rural area of Douglas County. Several people joined police in searching for her. Her body was found on July 7, 1989, in a creek near Oldfield, Missouri.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Any parent of an athlete knows how competitive high school sports can be and how upsetting it can be when your child doesn’t get playing time.
But parents at one metro Atlanta high school said their football program is recruiting and playing athletes who don’t even live in the district.
Some Douglasville parents are alleging that Olten Downs, head football coach at Alexander High School, is recruiting teens who don’t live in the district. One parent even admitted she is allowing a recruit to use her address, even though he does not live with her.
The Douglas County School System has confirmed an internal investigation was conducted. As a result, the district determined some conversations with prospective athletic parents had been “inappropriate” and said “appropriate corrective action” would be taken.
Recruiting allegations
Kimberly Churchill’s son has been playing football in Douglasville since he was old enough to walk.
“He started off on the peewee football team, playing rec and then when he got to high school, he started playing on the JV level and varsity level,” Churchill said.
As he entered junior year at Alexander High School, Churchill’s son had dreams of being a starter. But as the season unfolded, his mom said he was replaced by kids he had never seen in school before.
“One kid is driving an hour to school and an hour from school each day,” Churchill said.
After Churchill’s son quit the team, she sent a complaint to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), which oversees extracurricular activities for nearly 500 public and private schools in Georgia, alleging Downs was “recruiting out-of-district players for his football team.”
After Churchill’s son quit the team, she sent a complaint to the Georgia High School Association or GHSA, alleging that Coach Olten Downs was “recruiting out of district players for his football team.”(Rachel Polansky)
Churchill is not the only Douglasville parent making these claims.
Another mother who, fearing backlash, did not want to be identified because her son still plays for Alexander, admitted she is allowing Downs to use her address for one of his recruits, even though the recruit does not live with her.
Downs, the mother said, “called me on the phone. He said, ‘I have a student that lives in Atlanta, and he wants to come out here to have a better life for himself and to play football and I was wondering if you would be okay allowing this kid to use your address?’
“I said, that’s fine,” the mother recounted. She said shedidn’t know at the time GHSA’s bylaws prohibited such an arrangement. “Even now, I don’t know if I’m gonna get in trouble,” she said. “I don’t know the ramifications.”
Downs did not respond to Atlanta News First Investigates’ emails. When asked directly about the allegations during halftime at Alexander High football game, Downs did not respond and ran off the field.
When Atlanta News First Investigates tried to get Coach Downs’ side of the allegations, he ran away.(WANF)
While Downs did not speak, another parent recorded a call between her and one of Downs’ assistant coaches. That call was shared with Atlanta News First Investigates.
During the call, the assistant coach asked if she’d provide her address for an incoming recruit to use.
“He needs to have the address; he can live with me. I have no problem with that but, if he has an address, he’ll be able to go to that school; he’ll be able to go to Alexander,” the coach said.
When the parent appeared to hesitate, the assistant coach added this: “I’m the type of person like you scratch my back, I scratch your back.” The mother who recorded the call took that to mean her son would be given more playing time.
“I don’t want any of the kids to get in trouble,” the mother said. “I just want it [recruiting] to stop happening.”
Recruiting or undue influence
The GHSA defines recruiting or undue influence as “the use of influence by any person connected directly or indirectly with a GHSA school to induce a student of any age to transfer from one school to another … for athletic or literary competition purposes.”
GHSA also has the ability to impose penalties including fines, probations, suspensions or forfeiture of games. That’s what happened in 2020 when south Georgia’s longtime football powerhouse, Valdosta High School, was hit with $7500 in fines for recruiting violations. Five of their players were deemed ineligible, they were made to forfeit season wins, and banned from playoffs.
Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered GHSA investigated 93 claims of recruiting or undue influence over the last three years. Only 23 of them resulted in disciplinary action.
Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered that GHSA investigated 93 claims of recruiting or undue influence over the last three years. Only 23 of them resulted in disciplinary action.
This handwritten list was provided by GHSA. (Rachel Polansky)
While accusations are common, GHSA Executive Director Robin Hines said his staff rarely has enough evidence to punish programs.
“You can’t really move forward if it’s not going to pass legal muster,” Hines said. “It’s a shame you have to look through that lens but if you can’t support it in court, then you probably don’t need to be moving forward.”
Atlanta News First Investigates also learned 13 employees make up GHSA’s office. Only one of them is responsible for investigating misconduct.
Nonetheless, Hines said his office is properly staffed. “Ninety-nine out of 100 times, it’s [complaints or allegations] usually by disgruntled members of the community that send those things. Some of them may turn out to be true but that’s few and far between.”
Hines also said when allegations are deemed credible, GHSA will send a “letter of inquiry” to the district and ask the school to conduct its own internal investigation.
When Atlanta News First Investigates asked if such an inquiry had been sent to Alexander High School, GHSA said it does “not comment on on going investigations.”
“I’ve complained,” Churchill said. “Other moms have complained. Again, nothing has been done.”
With one month left in the season, Churchill believes tactics like recruiting have taken the game out of athletes’ hands.
“It’s just a mess and it needs to stop,” Churchill said.
Local school system responds
Atlanta News First Investigates has requested additional complaints regarding Downs since February 2021 from the Douglas County School System. The system said the public records would cost $3,360. We reduced the scope, and the price tag still remains more than $3,000. Atlanta News First is continuing to follow up on that public records request.
Meanwhile, Atlanta News First Investigates also requested an interview with Trent North, the Douglas County School System superintendent. System spokesperson Portia Lake sent this statement:
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