Good morning southern Colorado and here's what you need to know on your Wednesday, May 5.
If you'd like to read the full story, be sure to click on the story headline.
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Letecia Stauch asks for legal counsel, will no longer represent herself
Court documents show Letecia Stauch requested a state attorney be appointed to her case, after waiving her right to counsel and deciding to represent herself.
In the motion, Stauch writes that she does not want an attorney from the Office of the Public Defender. However, an order signed by Judge Gregory Werner on April 30 re-appointed the Office of the Public Defender to her case.
Stauch is accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson Gannon in their Lorson Ranch home on January 27, 2020. She now has an Appearance of Counsel set for today in an El Pas County courtroom.
Stauch had previously been adamant about representing herself, saying she doesn't believe experts in the legal system hold much value in this case. In her Arguello Advisement, she said she has "23 hours a day to work." She also compared the case to poker and believes she has an "ace in the hole," insinuating she is innocent.
Our Colette Bordelon will be in the courtroom on Wednesday and will bring you updates in real-time on her Twitter account. @ColetteBordelon
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Employers struggle to hire after height of pandemic
There is no shortage of job openings in southern Colorado, rather a shortage of interested applicants.
Mission Ready Tree Service posted a job listing roughly two months but says they have only received two applications so far. Over 2,000 job listings are posted on indeed.com for Pueblo alone. Plus, several other companies in Pueblo, including Alta Convenience stores, Two Moms and a Broom Cleaning Company, SoCo Disinfection, and Global Callcenter Solutions all say they are facing the same dilemma.
Employers are also complaining that people are not showing up to job interviews they have scheduled.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment says the problem could stem from a number of causes, including schools that are still participating in online learning and fears people have of interacting with new people on a day-to-day basis.
Visit our Workers Wanted page for local career listings.
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My identity and sensitive information were stolen, what should I do now?
Many viewers have recently experienced identity theft and continue to reach out to News5 asking what to do next. We get some of those answers from crime experts. Unfortunately, once someone gets their hands on your social security number and date of birth these are numbers that will not change, but the experts say you shouldn't panic.
Freeze your credit. Any time you do something big financially, the credit card issuer, mortgage lender, or auto loan company pulls your credit report. If the creditors can't pull that report because it's frozen. The fraudsters will denied access too.
Carefully review your credit report on a regular basis. Pikes Peak region cybersecurity expert Dr. Erik Huffman says it's not always obvious you've been the victim of identity theft. So, you need to look closely.
"Checking your credit. Not just your credit score, but the credit report to see what's going on because your score may not be impacted. You may be doing very well financially and you may have like a 790 and it may drop down to like a 780 and you don't even know why. You may assume it's just the fluctuation of the score and little do you know, there's a loan taken out," said Dr. Huffman.
There have been so many problems with identity theft, the three major credit reporting agencies have decided to extend their offer of free weekly credit reports until April 2022. To learn more, visit the Federal Trade Commission's blog on the subject.
Colorado's attorney general also provides an identity theft tool kit to help people recover from the experience. Click here for Stop Fraud Colorado resources.
Here are 10 steps you can take after experiencing identity theft:
1. File a claim with your identity theft insurance, if you have one.
2. Notify companies of your stolen identity.
3. File a report with the Federal Trade Commission.
4. Contact your local police department.
5. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports.
6. Freeze your credit.
7. Sign up for a credit monitoring service, if offered.
8. Tighten security on your accounts.
9. Review your credit reports for mystery accounts.
10. Scan credit card and bank statements for unauthorized charges.
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Cañon City family wants answers regarding brutal murder of mother, grandmother
A Cañon City family wants answers, almost three years after 74-year-old Loa Kennedy was found dead at her home off of Chinook Drive. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Fremont County Sheriff's Office.
One of her children, Gary Kennedy, showed News5 his mother's death certificate, which states her cause of death is "homicidal violence to include chop force injuries and decapitation, with perimortem animal predation." Gary said that means animals attacked his mother before, during, and after her death.
Cindy Kennedy questioned the efficacy of the start of the investigation by the Fremont County Sheriff's Office. "They were letting people off the property that to me, they should have been investigating, they should have been talking to, they should have been searching... They didn't treat it as a murder, they treated it as an animal attack. Because the people up there told them that's what it was," said Cindy.
News5 reached out to the Fremont County Sheriff, who sent a statement that it is still an active investigation. News5 reached out to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI), which said this case is not considered cold yet, by their standards.
The family has a $3,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. If you have any information, you can call the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office at (719)276-5509.
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Get your latest First Alert 5 Weather forecast
The weather is going to stay pretty active and complicated over the next 7 days, but today and tomorrow aren't too bad!
We're going to be warmer and breezy today with the chance for isolated showers and thunderstorms in the Pikes Peak Region out east through Crowley and Kiowa counties. Most of the storms will ride along or north of the Palmer Divide, so rain chances in El Paso County are on the lower end today.
We'll be dry and sunny on Thursday with gorgeous temperatures. Friday looks warm to hot depending on how much sunshine you get, and we might spark an isolated shower during the daytime.
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