Cold Cases in Colorado
ColdCaseIndex documents 12 cases in Colorado, dated 1984 to 2020. 4 are recorded as unsolved. The earliest is Jonelle Matthews (1984) and the most recent is Gannon Stauch (2020).
- Unsolved 4 (33%)
- Charges or trial pending 2 (17%)
- Solved or convicted 6 (50%)
Homicide clearance in Colorado, 1965 to 2024
A homicide is "cleared" when police make an arrest or close it by exceptional means, so an uncleared case is not always an unsolved one. Source: Murder Accountability Project analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report data, as published by Project: Cold Case. These are statewide totals and are separate from the ColdCaseIndex entries listed below.
By type
All Colorado cases
Gannon Stauch
Gannon Stauch, 11, was reported missing from his home near Colorado Springs on January 27, 2020; his remains were found in Florida that March.
Suzanne Morphew
Suzanne Morphew, 49, disappeared on Mother's Day, May 10, 2020, in Chaffee County, Colorado. Her husband, Barry Morphew, was charged with her murder in 2021, but the case was dismissed without prejudice in April 2022 after the…
Kelsey Berreth
Kelsey Berreth, a 29-year-old flight instructor, was killed on Thanksgiving Day 2018 at her townhome in Woodland Park, Colorado.
Shanann Watts & Family
Shanann Watts, 34, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and her daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, were murdered by her husband Chris Watts in Frederick, Colorado, on August 13, 2018.
Kelsie Schelling
Kelsie Schelling, a 21-year-old woman who was eight weeks pregnant, vanished in 2013 after driving from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado, to meet her boyfriend, Donthe Lucas.
Dylan Redwine
Thirteen-year-old Dylan Redwine was last seen on November 18, 2012, during a court-ordered visit to his father's home near Vallecito Reservoir in southwest Colorado. His remains were found in 2013 and 2015.
Jessica Ridgeway
Ten-year-old Jessica Ridgeway was abducted while walking to school in Westminster, Colorado, on October 5, 2012. Her dismembered remains were found days later in Arvada.
Oakey 'Al' Kite
Oakey Albert "Al" Kite Jr., a 53-year-old engineering consultant, was found bound and stabbed to death in the basement of his Aurora, Colorado townhome on May 24, 2004.
JonBenét Ramsey
Six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her family's Boulder home on December 26, 1996, hours after her mother reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000.
Peggy Hettrick
Peggy Hettrick, 37, was found stabbed and mutilated in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado, on February 11, 1987. Tim Masters, 15 at the time, was convicted in 1999, but the conviction was vacated in January 2008 after DNA testing…
Christopher Enoch Abeyta
Seven-month-old Christopher Abeyta was taken from his crib in his family's Colorado Springs home overnight in July 1986. Investigators found the family's garage-door opener missing and a basement window open.
Jonelle Matthews
Jonelle Matthews, a 12-year-old girl, vanished from her Greeley, Colorado home in December 1984 after a Christmas choir concert.