7 Cold Cases from Colorado (Updated)

Introduction

**TLDR Warning**

The following stories are some of the most mysterious and eerie cold cases that are still open in Colorado. These stories are tragic and sad, but they deserve to be shared and remembered because they’re unresolved and the people that committed some of the crimes below might still be at large.

Update: Added a missing story from my profile with an update, and made changes in the Bennett story to better represent the given information.

Randy Russom, 1983

Gunshots rang out from this alley behind Taramac Square in south Denver, approximately 20 minutes past midnight on Monday, November 8th, 1983. Witnesses reported seeing a distressed man sprint from the shady alleyway and across the street to the Shadow Woods condominiums (one of the buildings of the complex depicted above).

That man was 19-year old Randy Russom (pictured above holding his baby brother), and he had just escaped a car after being shot three times. He ran to the nearest door at the condominium and pounded desperately, pleading for help. Unfortunately, the condo belonged to a couple who chose not to intervene. The assailant emerged from the alley and shot Russom six more times, killing him at their doorstep.

The only witness to come forward since then was a federal law enforcer, but was too far away to help. He could only distinguish that the suspect was African-American. Investigators discovered that Russom had been carrying a check for $2,000 that he earned while working for a construction company, which turned up missing.

Russom’s death was one of two that happened that night. Michael Ray was a Lowry Airforce Base airman but also worked as a valet alongside Russom at Bobby Magee’s, a restaurant in Denver. It’s believed he was shot to death by the same assailant that killed Russom, only 20 minutes prior at a location 4 miles away. Another Denver man went missing from the area about a month prior, Michael Loughrey.

What all three men had in common is that they knew a career criminal, Anothony R. Landis. The FBI had enrolled Landis into their witness protection program after he snitched on inmates at a correctional institute in Virginia. He was transferred to Denver, Colorado where he eventually met Russom, Ray, and Loughrey. Investigators discovered a lot of incriminating evidence at Landis’ home but with few witnesses, the absence of a murder weapon, and no confession, they were unable to convict him on murder charges.

However, Landis’ criminalistic habits eventually landed him a lifetime sentence as a habitual offender. Detectives were hoping that he’d eventually gloat to other inmates about the killings, but to this day has apparently never mentioned the killings to anyone. Despite the detective’s confidence that Landis killed Russom and the two other men, their cases officially remain unresolved.

Thomas Lamar Livingston, 1994

It seemed a mail carrier had been trying to deliver a package to the home depicted above, where Thomas Lamar Livingston (pictured) lived with his wife, Judith, and four children in the Stratmoor Hills subdivision outside of Fort Carson, Colorado. Eventually the carrier left a notification on the front door, which Judith came across Saturday afternoon on April 23rd, 1994. She left for the post office on a Moped, that she often rode through town, to retrieve the package.

Meanwhile, Thomas had been working in the garage. While attending Pikes Peak Community College studying auto mechanics, he made a living by repairing and selling lawnmowers. He briefly came into contact with a neighbor, Cpl. William Kamar, trying to sell one of his lawnmowers when Judith returned from the post office.

She handed the package over to Thomas, who then set it on the trunk lid of their car which was parked out on the driveway. He began to open it…

Kamar was just then heading inside his home, when a sudden explosion caused him to jump. From the corner of his eye, he saw Judith and her moped heaved across the street by the concussive force, while Thomas’ body had been hurled 10 feet into the air. Shrapnel sprayed across the neighborhood, reportedly up to two blocks away. He had become the target of a mail bomb, this one was a grenade modified to explode when the package was opened.

Kamar went to render aid, but Thomas had clearly been killed. His wife, Judith, suffered severe head wounds and a broken arm but survived. Other than suffering the loss of their father, the four children were unharmed as they played inside the house. In a split second, from a mundane task we all do every so often, their lives were changed forever.

Police discovered that the package was actually mailed to the Livingston’s residence 4 days prior on the 19th, from Colorado Springs, only 5 miles north from Stratmoor. They also commented that whoever built the bomb was experienced at it, since it had to transfer through so many hands throughout the mailing process and it never prematurely exploded. To this day, police have no prime suspect or even a motive.

Karen Hathaway-Johns, 1991

It was a beautiful and warm Tuesday afternoon on May 21st, 1991. It was around 2:00 PM when Karen Kay Hathaway-Johns, a 45-year-old charity worker for the Red Cross, drove to Monument Hills Park to have lunch and enjoy the scenery. It seemed everyone was out and about, enjoying a sunny and fair-weathered spring day.

Johns parked her car near the 1700 block of Culebra Avenue and W. Del Norte St. It was within the confines of an upscale neighborhood that she overlooked the park in full bloom with the Monument Creek running alongside it in the background, while she ate a homemade sandwich.

As the kids played on the jungle gyms and out in the open fields, and while joggers and dog walkers traversed the winding sidewalks, some strange murder plot began to unfold. Investigators believe that Johns saw someone, brandishing a gun, sneakily pursuing her. As she started the car in an attempt to evade the attacker, a single gunshot resonated across the park. Soon after, witnesses saw a car jump the curb on Culebra Avenue and continue to roll down a steep incline toward a softball field, until it was stopped by a tree. Inside, witnesses saw a deceased woman, Johns, who had been shot in the head.

Initially, it was believed Johns had committed suicide. However, the entry point of the bullet was in a difficult place to reach, in an area behind her right ear. Investigators also never found the weapon that inflicted the wound. With few leads to go on, and even less evidence, the baffling case has since gone cold.

Mary Lynn Vialpando, 1988

Depicted above is a satellite image pulled from Google Maps of an alleyway (highlighted between the red lines) in Colorado Springs, located at the 2600 block of Colorado Avenue. That’s where witnesses heard terrified screams and where the lifeless body of 24-year-old, Mary Lynn Vialpando (pictured above), was discovered. Her death has left investigators scratching their heads for more than 28 years.

Mary and her husband, Robert, had attended a joyous but exhaustive wedding the day of June 4th, 1988. That night, they picked up their 4-year old daughter, Coral, from their grandmother’s house at around 11:00 PM. As they were walking from the car to their house in Colorado Springs, that’s when Mary and Robert engaged in a verbal argument. This led Mary to walk away, presumably to blow off steam.

“Ever since she was a youngster she would go off for a walk and feel safe,” Mary's mother, Faye Renkel, reminisced. In fact, Mary was described as an active and athletic woman. She seemed to also enjoy the scenery. “She was a very outdoors type person,” Renkel said of her daughter. “They went camping a lot.” At the time of her death, Mary was also attending Denver Technical College studying sports medicine.

The couple lived only 4 blocks from Old Colorado City; a town situated only 2 miles from downtown Colorado Springs, known for its surplus of bars and restaurants. Witnesses recall seeing her being turned away at Thunder and Buttons, because she couldn’t pay the cover charge. Her final destination was at Roger’s Bar sometime between 2:30-3:00 AM, where she reportedly walked through the front door and then was seen promptly exiting out the back into the alley.

“I heard it as plain as day,” said the resident of a nearby apartment, “but I didn't do anything about it. She wasn't screaming, she was yelling. She yelled something four times. They were short yells, not long yells. I couldn't tell what she was yelling.” Later that morning, her body was found by a jogger.

According to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, she was stabbed and horribly beaten to death by an assailant. There was excessive swelling around the cranium from when her head was cracked against a nearby boulder. It was only after Mary had died that the attacker continued to have his way with the body, leaving behind a deposit of biologic evidence. The DNA has been held on file ever since then, but has yet been matched with any suspects.

“Nobody did anything about it,” Mary's grieve stricken mother wept. Her family was outraged how an entire community of people, all these houses and apartments all around the crime scene, did nothing to help a woman in distress.

The Bennett Family, 1984 (Updated)

In early January 1984, a spree of brutal attacks occurred across Aurora and Lakewood perpetrated by a serial rapist. Victims reported that the attacker wielded a hammer and used it to bludgeon his victims. He attacked 4 people, who all suffered severe head trauma. One woman in Lakewood would not overcome her injuries.

While these attacks were happening, Bruce and Debra Bennett had just moved their family (pictured above) to Aurora only a few months prior. Bruce worked at a family owned furniture store while he attended college to eventually become an air traffic controller. Things seemed to pan out for him, as he was reportedly excited about a possible assignment at a local airport. The family was described as living quietly and humbly in their new house on E. Center Drive.

Friends and family came together for an early birthday celebration for their 7-year-old daughter, Melissa. After everyone had gone to sleep, in the early morning hours of January 16th, 1984, an intruder (possibly more than one) somehow infiltrated the house. The details of the case seem to get a bit fuzzy here, as it’s reported that Bruce met the assailant at the foot a staircase where a struggle with the intruder ensued.

However, the house depicted in Google Maps is a single story home with a built-in basement constructed in 1983. This leads me to believe that either Bruce discovered the intruder in the basement, or Google Maps must have the wrong address. Sometimes in a murder case like this, the address will be changed. A shady house next door, built in 1982 (depicted above), may have been the actual location.

Regardless, Bruce reportedly fought with the intruder throughout the house but was ultimately over-matched. It seems the struggle must’ve not been enough to awaken the rest of the family, or I believe Debra would’ve at least called the police. Instead, the gruesome scene was discovered by Bruce’s mother who turned up at the home when he didn’t show for work later that morning.

Bruce’s battered body was found with a massive head wound and slashed throat. Debra was found in the master bedroom, stabbed and with her head bludgeoned and her body raped. Their little girls were discovered in their separate bedrooms as well, neither of them spared the killer’s rage. Melissa had been raped and clubbed to death, and their youngest daughter, 3-year-old Vanessa (pictured right) had her face smashed in to the point that fragments of jaw bone had been lodged in her windpipe.

Vanessa survived the ordeal and after extensive facial surgeries was cared for by Bruce’s mother but sadly has very limited recollection of her family, as revealed in a 1994 interview.

Despite the numerous hammer attacks and the survival of various other victims, police were never able to produce a suspect or even a person of interest. In the case of the Bennett family, investigators were unable to establish a motive for the murders. In August 2016, police were able to make this snapshot composite profile of the killer from DNA left at the scene: http://imgur.com/CAEN5VV

The killer remains at large, and the case’s official status remains unresolved.

Kelsie Schelling, 2013 (Updated)

Laura Saxton describes her 21-year-old daughter, Kelsie Schelling, as a “little gal with big personality,” and although she was pretty tough on the outside, she had a very soft heart. Schelling was reported missing on February 4th, 2013. Ever since then, Saxton has worked relentlessly to find her daughter who vanished somewhere in Pueblo, Colorado.

Schelling lived in Larimer Square, in south Denver, about 2 ½ hours north of Pueblo. What compelled her to make the trip was her boyfriend, Donthe Lucas, who learned from Kelsie that she was 8 weeks pregnant and he was the supposed father. She was apparently lured with the promise of a gift. Nobody has seen her since.

The couple met at the Northeastern Junior College in 2010. While Schelling was taking prepatory classes for a major in psychology, Lucas had aspirations of becoming an NBA athlete after a standout performance throughout high school.

They eventually parted ways when Schelling began attending classes at Vanguard University, and Lucas travelled to Emporia State University in Kansas to pursue a basketball career. The two were brought together with the news of a baby, which Lucas was apparently upset about. While he enjoyed the perks of jockdom, he didn’t plan on having a child.

Lucas’ family wants people to believe that Donthe has nothing to do with the disappearance, but it’s alleged that he used Schelling’s cell phone in the hours after she disappeared on Feburary 4th. Lucas was then seen at the ATM in Schelling’s 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, where he withdrew $400 using her card. Then, security cameras at a Wal-Mart parking lot captured Lucas (wearing a hat, jacket, and shorts) parking Schelling’s car, where it sat overnight on February 5th. The cameras also captured Lucas’ mother picking him up and the two left the parking lot thereafter. The next morning at around 7:00 AM, an unidentified man wearing a hoodie entered Schelling’s car and drove away. It was found two weeks later in a hospital parking lot.

There’s a lot of incriminating circumstances surrounding Lucas and it’s clear that he and his family know more about what happened, but they have chosen to not cooperate with detectives. The most important piece of evidence that’s missing to this day is Schelling’s body, which was never recovered.

Without a body or a confession, no case can be made.

UPDATE (4/14/2017): Authorities have been excavating the backyard of where her ex-boyfriend once lived in Pueblo. They said late Friday afternoon they found evidence in that yard.

They wouldn't say what it is, but they did say it is not a body.

Kelsie's mother, Laura Saxton, released this statement:

“We appreciate all the very hard work that went into the excavation at Manor Ridge. We appreciate the cooperation of the homeowner, the hospitality of the neighbor for letting us take refuge in their yard. They fed the workers and made sure we had anything we needed. We have many long-term supporters and searchers who stood for hours waiting for news. We love and appreciate everyone who has offered support and prayers in whatever capacity they could. Unfortunately, we still don’t have our Kelsie and Kadrie back, so we are devastated. We had so much hope. We prayed for a Good Friday or Easter miracle. It felt possible. So now, we will grieve and put ourselves back together to move on to the next step …we will never give up.”

Marjorie Fithian, 1975

Police was notified about a man, Jerry Eugene Walker (34), who had shown pictures of a woman he helped murder to a friend. One photo was black and white, while two others were in color. They depicted a woman who had been shot twice in the face. Her body was discarded on the side of County Road 386 (Painters Road), about 4 miles north from the small farming community of Roggen. Walker kept the photos as a grizzly souvenir, showing them to bar patrons as he drunkenly bragged about what he and a group of men did to this poor woman.

That woman was 23-year-old Marjorie Fithian (pictured above, holding her son), and she had been murdered on June 23, 1975. She had been visiting family in Denver at the time, and around 7:20 AM was dropped off at a bus depot in downtown. She was accompanied by her beloved 18-month-old son, Sage. Fithian’s intention was to catch the 7:30 bus out to Greeley, where she lived, and worked at Aims College. Investigators inquired about Fithian and her son, but the bus driver told them she never boarded the bus.

It’s not known how Fithian came into contact with the group of men that ultimately murdered her, whether she willingly accepted a ride or was kidnapped. If she did accept a ride, that might infer she knew someone in the car, but either way she was compelled to abandon the bus that’d take her home.

Two hours later, a farmhand from Two-Bar-Two ranch discovered the abandoned woman and her child on the side of the remote county road. Her little boy, Sage, was right beside his dying mother, peacefully holding her hand. He was unharmed. Fithian was then rushed to the Brighton Community Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Investigators believe that Fithian and her son were taken from the bus depot to an unknown location, where the actual shooting occurred and where Walker’s photos might have originated. She was then promptly transported 50 miles outside of Denver to Roggen where she was discarded. Details about whether the woman was sexually assaulted are scant, and while Sage was able to talk no useful information could be extracted from him. A few clues at the scene included Fithian’s overnight bag, a few spent cartridges, and broken glass apparently from a car window. Fithian’s other pieces of luggage that she was traveling with were never found.

Walker was named among a group of suspects two months later after revealing the photos to a friend and confessing, “I shot the bitch in the face.” In a joint effort between the Greeley and Weld police departments, Walker was eventually coerced from his home after a long stand-off. Although he had been arrested, due to lack of evidence, he was released after a month in custody. Interestingly, he mysteriously died in his home weeks later.

Officially, the status of Fithian’s case remains unresolved. Walker knew more about the murder, but wasn’t forthcoming with the information. Police still have a list of at least three other suspects, but are unable to prove their involvement. Her killers are still at large.