FOUNTAIN — A Fountain man accused of murdering his girlfriend and staging her death as a suicide will walk free after all charges against him were dropped during a court hearing on Monday.
Miles Kirby was arrested by Fountain Police in July and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with a deceased human body after he told police he found his girlfriend, Joslyn Teetzel, hanging from a rope in a shed in their backyard.
According to arrest documents, Kirby told police the two had an argument the night before about the house not being clean. The documents said Kirby told police he saw Teetzel trying to get into the shed later around midnight, but brought her back inside and locked the shed.
He told police when he woke up the next morning around 6 a.m. he found her hanging in the shed. Kirby told police that before a neighbor helped him call 911, he untied Teetzel from the rope and placed her on a table in the backyard. The arrest documents say that is how police found her when they arrived.
In the arrest affidavit, a Fountain police officer said the marks around Teetzel's neck were not consistent with a hanging. The officer said he was able to access surveillance video from the doorbell and a camera showing the side of the house and the driveway. The officer said there was no saved video from the camera that pointed to the backyard and the shed.
The officer said the surveillance video of the side of the house and the driveway showed Kirby walking from the backyard to the driveway five minutes before the 911 call. In the video, the officer said Kirby can be heard saying "B——, I'll f——— kill you. Call your f——— lawyer. F——— piece of s—-."
Kirby was later arrested by Fountain Police and held in jail for 22 days. The El Paso County Coroner originally ruled Teetzel's death as a homicide but later changed her cause of death to suicide.
The autopsy report said the reason for the change was partly due to recovered surveillance video of the backyard and shed by investigators. The report said the video showed Teetzel entering the shed alone before she was found dead the next morning.
The report also claims further review of how the rope was tied around Teetzel's neck before it was unwrapped and a determination by first responders that Teetzel's time of death was sometime between when she entered the shed and was later found contributed to the change in cause of death.
Daniel Kay, Kirby's lawyer, said Fountain Police rushed to charge his client before knowing the whole story.
"They have the video that totally exonerates him," Kay said. "They should have investigated this from the beginning and not rushed to judge Mr. Kirby."
He said the comments made by Kirby in the surveillance video that morning were because he couldn't find Teetzel and was going to be late for work.
“He regrets what he said. He loves his wife dearly. He was late for work and he didn't know where his wife was. She had to drive him to work. There was only one car," Kay said.
When asked for comment about the charges dropped against Kirby, the Fountain Police Department referred us to this statement saying in part:
“The evidence the Fountain Police Department collected during the investigation has not changed. Once the new information was obtained from the El Paso County Coroner’s Office it is our obligation to turn over that information to the District Attorney’s Office, and it’s their decision to proceed however they see fit.”
Thomas Teetzel, Joslyn's father, told News5 in an exclusive interview that he does not believe his daughter committed suicide. He said he learned about a history of abuse in Teetzel and Kirby's relationship from his ex-wife after his daughter had passed.
"Every time they really got in a big argument where she was beaten, or whatever, she would call her mother. I know that her mother would help her as much as she could. Like I said I didn't know any of this was going on until after the fact. But it still, that doesn't matter. This did happen and it happens every day to women," said Thomas.
Kay said Kirby had never hurt his girlfriend.
"My client 100% denies any domestic violence on his part. He's never been in trouble before," said Kay.
Thomas said he is still looking for justice for his daughter. The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office filed to drop charges against Kirby without prejudice, meaning charges can still be refiled against him at any time.
The Fountain Police Department and the District Attorney's Office declined to comment further, both stating the investigation is still ongoing.
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