COLORADO SPRINGS – The city of Colorado Springs has experienced a record year with 38 homicides so far as of January 3, 2019. It is an unfortunate follow-up to 2017 when Colorado Springs Police were investigating a then-record 32 homicides, two of which have not been cleared.
In 2018, the Colorado Springs Police Department has cleared or solved all but 6 killings within city limits. The resolutions came through arrests by investigators, the deaths of suspects, or the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office ruled the homicide justified or decided not to pursue charges.
News5 went through crime statistics available free to the public online and we verified with CSPD the data we’ve collected on homicides this year.
Law enforcement includes officer-involved shootings in their statistics for homicide. Most traffic-related deaths that result in charges of vehicular homicide or otherwise are not included, unless police determine it was an intentional act.
This year’s homicide cases have been linked to drug-related activity, murder-suicide, accidental shootings, domestic violence, disputes between friends, officer-involved shootings, and seemingly random homicides. A significant statistic that has changed since 2017 is a lower number of child homicides. In 2017, investigators handled 12 such cases, compared to only 2 this year.
In this data set, you’ll find information on weapons used, victim age and gender, suspect age and gender, and what charges were filed if any. The map in this story serves as a reference for homicides across southern Colorado by investigating agency in chronological order, along with a summary of the case so far.
If you have a question or comment about this article, contact the author at blloyd@koaa.com.
Colorado Springs Police Department homicide investigations in 2018:
- Benjamin Lee Sharkey, 30 – January 7th
- Shawnee Tapia, 35 – January 7th
- Micah Flick, 34 – February 2nd
- Manuel Zetina, 19 – February 2nd – Justifiable homicide
- Darryl Tyrone Clark, 44 – March 4th
- Corky Oliver, 31 – March 12th – Justifiable homicide
- Earnest Gene Ramsey, 39 – April 13th – Unsolved
- Serena Lee Garcia, 21 – April 21st
- Marcus Howard Denton, 20 – April 21st
- Brandie Preciado, 21 – April 22nd
- Jesse Paul Schelegel, 41 – April 25th – Justifiable homicide
- Dionte Harris, 22 – May 3rd
- Richard Paul Martinez, 40 – May 6th – Unsolved
- Marshall Aaron Mitschelen, 17 – May 9th
- Derrick Lamont Lawrence Jr., 23 – June 23rd
- Michelle Peters, 41 – July 13th
- Brandon Watkins, 33 – July 21st – Charges not pursued
- Paul Gannarelli, 77 – July 22nd
- Michael Dewayne Booker, 28 – August 16th
- Terrell Cortez Madrid Duran, 30 – August 27th
- Jordan Coleman, 18 – August 29th
- Randolf F. Lille, 18 – August 31st – Unsolved
- Daniel Chamberlain Lehman, 28 – September 15th
- Sheldon King, 33 – September 16th
- Raymond Daniel McCall, 39 – September 18th
- Houston Malachai Cookson, 30 – October 6th
- Judy Smith, 47 – October 26th
- Jaylon Morgan, 26 – November 1st
- Luis Molina, 34 – November 2nd – Unsolved
- Luis Starkey, 17 – November 5th
- Jacquiline Wilde, 24 – November 6th
- Shakir Cook-Troynel, 23 – November 17th
- Candace R. Jones, 35 – November 23rd
- Patrick Bustamante, 50 – December 3rd
- Nicholas G. Romero, 32 – December 8th
- Raymond Maez, 22 – December 10th – Unsolved
- Brandon Coffin, 28 – December 14th
- Robbie London, 43 – December 20th
