SOME SUSPECTED SABOTEURS IN WW2 TRAIN BLAST AT GRAND JUNCTION

On June 27, 1943, railroad cars carrying World War Two munitions caught fire and exploded at Grand Junction, Colorado - showering part of the western end of the city with shells, shrapnel and debris.

The International News Service initially reported authorities "sought clues linking a possible saboteur ring." More likely though, an overheated axle "hot box" caused the catastrophe, according to some reports. Or perhaps oil placed too close to a railroad yard furnace, according to other reports.

Several people were injured, including Grand Junction Fire Chief Charles Downing, who was standing at a warehouse when an exploding shell shattered his arm. The chief walked about two blocks for help. Surgeons amputated his arm, the Associated Press said.

Another man, railroad worker Robert Walraven, escaped with a broken jaw, according to his December 2009 obituary.

An AP dispatch described close calls and commotion, including this anecdote: "Betty Lee Barber, awakened by the barrage of exploding shells as fire destroyed two box cars of munitions here early today, joined her parents on the front porch of their home to watch the blaze.

"A few minutes later a shell fragment whistled overhead, crashed through the roof of the Barber home and landed on Miss Barber’s bed, scorching the pillow," AP reported.

[Photo: Private Collection]

STRANGE CASE: TWO FIRES HIT SAME HOME ON SAME DAY

A pair of fires gutted a small home in Grand Junction on Thanksgiving Day.
The first blaze broke out at 4:48 p.m. and the second at 11:41 p.m. on 24 Road. When the alarm was sounded for the second fire, "callers noted the building was fully involved, with flames spreading to nearby trees and a fence," the fire department said. The case is under investigation. [Photo: Grand Junction Fire Department]

SANTA SWAPS HIS SLEIGH FOR ONE NIGHT

The City of Craig in northwest Colorado hosted a Parade of Lights featuring a variety of vehicles over the weekend - with Santa's reindeer riding in the bucket of a front-end loader.

[Photo: Craig Fire/Rescue]

'BE CAREFUL OUT THERE FOLKS,' OFFICIALS SAY IN SNOW ALERT

The Colorado Department of Transportation issued a travel warning for people heading home from Thanksgiving - and everyone else.

"Cooler temperatures and snowfall beginning Sunday afternoon are anticipated to create slick driving conditions across the state through Monday morning," CDOT said. The National Weather Service reports: "Snow develops in mountains later this morning and becomes widespread and heavier this afternoon/eve. Bands of mainly light snow/flurries spread onto the plains late afternoon and eve."

CATS LIVING LARGE IN PENTHOUSE

COPS SEEK WITNESSES IN DENVER ROAD RAGE MURDER

A man was shot and killed in a suspected road rage murder Saturday night in Denver.

The crime occurred in the 3000-block of South Winona Court.

"The preliminary investigation indicates this may be related to a road rage incident," Denver police said. "Investigators are working to develop suspect information."
In you have information, call the confidential Metro Crime Stoppers line (720) 913-7867.

FUTURE FIREFIGHTER LINES UP FOR ROLL CALL

Members of Truck Company 23 welcomed a special visitor - a junior firefighter in a red helmet - during a training exercise Saturday, the South Adams County Fire Department said.

[Photo: South Adams County Fire Department]

TANKER SLAMMED HEAD-ON INTO BRIDGE

A close-up photo of Thanksgiving Day's fatal gasoline truck crash showed the cab slammed head-on into the bridge at Yale Avenue and I-25 in Denver.

The big rig was carrying a cargo of 8,000 gallons of gasoline - almost half of which leaked onto the roadway, according to the Denver Fire Department, which released the photo Saturday.

One person died in the tragedy, police said.

[Photo: Denver Fire Department]

POLICE DOG NETS HUGE DOPE HAUL

K9 Officer "Jefe" of the Trinidad Police Department detected a huge drug haul during a traffic stop - 26 pounds of cocaine. Police arrested the driver of the vehicle, Eric Arana. The incident occurred Nov. 24 on I-25 northbound near the state line.

[Photo: Trinidad Police Department]

POLICE BLOTTER

A pedestrian was killed early Saturday at I-25 southbound and Yale Avenue in Denver, police said.

A person was seriously injured when two autos and two motorcycles collided Friday night on West Colfax Avenue over I-25 in Denver. In Aurora, police located a missing 74-year-old man with autism who walked away from his home Friday using his cane. He is reported to be safe. In the Town of Rockvale, a man was fatally shot Friday on Twin Pines Avenue, the Fremont County Sheriff's Office said.

In Evergreen, fire engulfed a chicken coop early Saturday on Buffalo Creek Drive. "Keeping chickens warm during cold weather is tough, but it can be done safely," fire officials said. "Secure heat lamps, use heavy-duty extension cords protected in conduit, and dust lights & outlets."

SEARCH FOR MISSING DISABLED MAN

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a missing person alert for Kenneth Martinez, 45, of Thornton, who requires a fulltime caretaker. He was last seen on foot on Fox Street.

KEEPING DISTANCE FROM AMMO BLAZE

Firefighters will allow a fire at Turkey Tracks shooting area to burn itself out due to unexploded ammunition, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday.

The outdoor gun range is located in Park National Forest, about 14 miles north of Woodland Park. The fire was estimated to have scorched about eight acres.

"Smoke will be visible for the next few days as fuels continue to consume within the fire perimeter," the Forest Service said.

PAROLEE DROVE STOLEN CAR IN CRASH

9News reports a parolee drove the stolen car that killed five people in Douglas County on Monday. Three of the dead were children. The driver of the stolen car also perished as did the driver of the car carrying the youths.

AIRBUS A320 JETLINERS GROUNDED: SHOCK DELAYS SEEN FOR T-DAY WEEKEND TRAVEL

Reuters news agency says aircraft maker Airbus ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 of its A320 jet family - more than half its global fleet. The grounding threatens the busiest travel weekend of the year. Evidence suggests solar flares may have corrupted A320 software.

WHO DIED IN YALE AVENUE CRASH?

A person died when a fuel tanker crashed into the Yale Avenue bridge from southbound I-25 in Denver on Thanksgiving Day. Police have yet to say who - the driver or someone else. The truck spilled some of its contents.

FIREFIGHTERS TO RESCUE AT DUNCAN RIDGE

Firefighters rescued a person injured in a fall Friday at Duncan's Ridge, a climbing and hiking area near Fort Collins, according to Poudre Fire Authority.

[Photos: Poudre Fire Authority]

DIFFICULT RESCUE IN GREELEY

Firefighters and medics rescued a person from a remote patch of north Greeley early Friday using ropes and special equipment, fire officials said. The person was transported to hospital.

[Photo: Greeley Fire Department]

MOB TOWN: COLORADO MOB BOSS AND 'THE COMMISSION'

 

Introducing the late Colorado capo Vincenzo "Black Jim" Colletti, who made history as one of the nation's top mob bosses attending the infamous and ill-fated Apalachin meeting on Nov. 14, 1957, which confirmed the existence of a nationwide Mafia conspiracy - "The Commission."

Colletti - who publicly identified himself as a "cheese merchant" - held Colorado's mob reins from Pueblo, influencing hoods in Denver, Trinidad and other locales.

Though one of La Cosa Nostra's more modest spheres of influence, Colorado generated cash through gambling and loansharking - as well as bootleg liquor during the Prohibition social experiment. 

Denver's Smaldone gang was well known to newspaper readers. So too were earlier characters such as Denver grocery store owner Joe "Little Caesar" Roma and bootleggers Pete and Sam Carlino.

In 1957, top U.S. leadership called the national gathering at the home of mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara in Apalachin, New York, to discuss divvying up illicit operations once controlled slain New York mob boss and "Murder Inc." chieftain Albert Anastasia as well as other lucrative matters, i.e. gambling, loan sharking and narcotics.

The Rocky Mountain News said at the time: "It is understood, however, that Colletti has been given a position of importance in national syndicate racket operations."

The moved into the capo slot after wise guys Charlie Blanda and Tom “Whiskers” Incerto were sent to Leavenworth federal prison in 1952 for tax crime. 

Tiny Apalachin was considered safe as it is located 189 miles northwest of New York City. However, suspicious local police raided the session after observing rows of luxury cars sporting out of state license plates in the rural community.

Stunned mob bosses fled into the woods surrounding Barbara's home - an utter embarrassment for such powerful and nattily dressed men.

Law enforcement rounded up 62 mobsters and twenty were eventually charged and then convicted of obstructing justice.

However, the convictions were overturned in 1958.

While Colorado's Colletti beat the rap in Apalachin he was arrested in Denver on unrelated charges the next month - a disappointing home coming following a disappointing trip. 

Colletti died in July 1975 and is buried in Pueblo's Roselawn Cemetery. He was born in 1897 in Sicily. Colletti moved into the capo slot after Colorado wise guys Charlie Blanda and Tom “Whiskers” Incerto were shipped to Leavenworth federal prison for tax crimes in 1952. 

[Photos: FBI, public domain]

Colletti's mugshot is second from bottom on left

DRUGS FOUND IN HER CAR - AND DURING JAIL STRIP

Deputies stopped Kendra Erickson, 30, of Grand Junction, after a brief auto chase and seized more than 2 ounces of methamphetamine, about 7.5 grams of cocaine - and multiple loaded syringes "During a final search of Erickson during the jail booking process, additional suspected methamphetamine was found inside her undergarments resulting in an additional contraband," the Mesa County Sheriff's Office said. Erickson, who was also wanted as a suspect in other cases, was arrested the vicinity of 30 and D Roads east of Grand Junction early Thursday. She was alone in the auto. [Photo: Mesa County Sheriff's Office]

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: DENVER'S FIRST SNOW SET FOR TONIGHT

In a historically late start, the Denver area's first measurable snowfall of the season - about 1-inch - is forecast for Friday night and early Saturday, the National Weather Service says.

EAT MORE TURKEY

 

Happy Thanksgiving

[Photo: National Western Stock Show]

POLICE BLOTTER

Three people were shot Wednesday night in the 1100-block of North Broadway in Denver, police said. A two-vehicle crash caused serious injures overnight at I-25 northbound at South University Boulevard in Denver.

MILD HOLIDAY WEATHER FOR DENVER

The Denver area's Thanksgiving Day forecast from the National Weather Service: "Mostly sunny, with a high near 50." 

STATE SENATOR FAITH WINTER DIES IN I-25 CRASH

Colorado State Senator Faith Winter, 45, of Broomfield, was killed Thanksgiving Eve in a crash on I-25 in Arapahoe County.

Three others were injured in the crash which involved several vehicles in the northbound lanes of the interstate near Dry Creek Road, reports say.

"Faith was a fierce advocate for hardworking Coloradans, women, and families, and our climate," Governor Jared Polis said.
In a joint statement, Senate President James Coleman and Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez said her "presence brought warmth and an invaluable perspective to the Capitol."
Winter was a Democrat, the mother of two children, Tobin and Sienna, and owner three dogs - Queso, Waffles, and Olive, according to her official biography.

[Photo: Colorado Democrats]

COLD CASE: STRANGE HOLIDAY MYSTERY IN COLORADO SPRINGS

On Thanksgiving night 1953, police officer Richard Burchfield, 34, was shot dead in his patrol car near Bijou and El Paso streets in Colorado Springs - in what's become one of the city's oldest and strangest cold cases.

Detectives identified potential suspects and encountered hoaxers. Nothing panned out. His desperate widow took to stalking city streets at night in search of the gunman, the Rocky Mountain News said. Detectives believed Burchfield encountered a man responsible for a series of armed holdups and purse snatchings across the city - the most recent happening minutes before the murder, based on evidence recovered at the scene. Witnesses saw an older Ford coup nearby - and described the murderer as a young white man, tall and thin. Burchfield suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Police recovered nine empty cartridges.
A lie detector test cleared a suspect named Lyman L. McVicker, 37, of 1446 Stout Street in Denver, the News said. A man wounded in a gun battle with Los Angeles police was also quizzed. In Nevada, a convict claimed he was the killer - and then admitted he lied. A suspected auto thief in Indiana also claimed he did it.

The Colorado Springs police chief, I.B. "Dad" Bruce, told the News he believed Burchfield knew his killer - based on the officer's patrol car radio habits.

“Whenever he stopped anyone during an investigation ... Burchfield would radio in the license of the car he was stopping, the identity of the man he was stopping, if he knew it, and why or where he was stopping,” the chief said.

Because didn't do that, Bruce said, it indicated the killer was ‘‘definitely known to him"- either as "a punk criminal he could handle or a friend.”

Photo: Colorado Springs Police Department]

COP KILLS SUSPECT NEAR GREELEY HOSPITAL

UPDATE A police officer shot and killed a man wanted on an arrest warrant during a traffic stop Wednesday night near North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, prosecutors said. They provided this account: "The vehicle was occupied by two people. The adult female driver got out of the vehicle and an adult male passenger remained in the vehicle. The officer was aware the male occupant had an active felony warrant for his arrest. "The officer approached the vehicle to speak with him and to notify the male occupant he had an active warrant. The officer told the male passenger to get out of the vehicle. The male passenger did not comply and reached toward a bag on his lap. "The officer continued to give commands to the male occupant, and he did not comply with the officer’s commands. The officer fired his gun."

SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR THREATENING DENVER JUDGE

Thomas Wornick, 43, of Pueblo, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for threatening to kill Denver Judge Judith Labuda, who was presiding over other criminal cases against the man, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Wornick, 43, sent nine threats by e-mails in March 2024. He was already serving a deferred sentence for threatening former U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado.

Prosecutors identified Wornick as a "combat veteran." In a written statement to police, Labuda said: “His emails left me feeling unsettled, and in fear.” The case was tried in Arapahoe County since it involved a Denver judge.

[Photo: 18th Judicial District]

9 SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK IN HOME

Nine people were sent to hospital after a carbon monoxide leak Wednesday at a home at 69th Avenue and Olive Street in Commerce City, the South Adams County Fire Department said.

[Photo: South Adams County Fire Department]

HERO COPS SAVE MAN TRAPPED IN HOUSE FIRE

 

Two hero police officers rescued a man trapped by flames in the basement of a blazing house in Arvada.
The dynamic duo "were able to breach a window and pull the resident to safety just before flames overtook the home," police said. The blaze swept 6133 Marshall Street on Sunday. Officials released body cam video footage on Wednesday. "This Thanksgiving season, we’re reminded of how fortunate we are to have first responders who step in when every second matters," police said. [Photos: Arvada Police Department]

ACCUSED OF TRYING TO KILL COP

Andrew Jarmillo, 26, has been charged with attempted murder after intentionally crashing a pickup truck into an occupied police car in Frederick in Weld County, police said Wednesday.

"The driver accelerated away from the traffic stop, made a U turn, and rammed the patrol vehicle, striking the driver’s side door," police said. He was arrested after fleeing on foot into a field.

The incident occurred Tuesday. Police had stopped the suspect regarding a disturbance in the Town of Firestone.

CBI ALERT: MAN, 81, MISSING SINCE MONDAY FROM BAILEY

Stephen Wolf, 81, went missing Monday night from Bailey. "Stephen has medical concerns and possible cognitive impairment," the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said. "He requires medication."

WANTS MOMMY

 

In Jefferson County, an animal control officer rescued a fawn crying for its mother. The little one was wedged in a fence near Parmalee Elementary School in Indian Hills - and "making sure the whole neighborhood knew it," the sheriff's office said. The episode ended happily. "Mom was just around the corner. The two were reunited."

[Photo: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office]

BEWARE TURKEY FRYERS! THEY CAN FRY THE COOK, TOO

The National Fire Protection Association warns: "Turkey fryers that use cooking oil are not safe" - and can gobble up the holiday chef.

"These fryers use large amounts of oil at high temperatures, which can cause devastating burns," NFPA says. "If you want a fried turkey for your Thanksgiving meal, purchase it from a grocery store, restaurant or buy a fryer that does not use oil."

Thanksgiving is the top day for home cooking fires - more than three times the daily average.

PRISON SAGA: TINA PETERS REPORTED TO BE LOCKED IN 'THE HOLE'

Fox 31 reports disgraced Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, imprisoned for election fraud, has been placed in solitary confinement.

Her attorney says Peters was locked up after she filed a grievance against a corrections officer. The attorney also says Peters’ health is “deteriorating markedly.” She is 70.

Meantime, 9News reports the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) will ignore a White House request to transfer the renegade election official to a federal prison.

In a letter last week to Governor Jared Polis, the bi-partisan Colorado County Clerks Association warned that agreeing to the request “would send a deeply damaging message.”

Peters is assigned to the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo.

[Photo: Colorado Department of Corrections]

JUDGE ASSAILS ICE TACTICS IN COLORADO

A federal judge in Denver on Tuesday found that federal immigration officers have “routinely” made warrantless arrests in Colorado in violation of federal statutes, ordering the Trump administration to halt the practice and take steps to prove that it’s complying with the law, according to Colorado Newsline.

POLICE BLOTTER

Police arrested a father and son as suspects in a fatal street race that killed two people in Lakewood. Three others were injured.

Gregory Mark Giles, 65, Bryce Anneaus Giles, 26, were jailed on vehicular home charges after turning themselves in Monday, police said. The accident occurred Nov. 13 at South Kipling Parkway and West Mississippi Avenue. Several vehicles were involved. In Greeley, Eduardo Parra-Corral, 19, has been charged with vehicular homicide, as well as possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor, in crash that fatally injured another motorist on Nov. 9. The victim died Nov. 14. Police said Parra-Corral was "driving a Ford Mustang eastbound on 10th Street, traveling at speeds in excess of 100mph when he ran the red light at 23rd Avenue" and "collided with a Subaru Impreza, driven by a 27-year-old woman." In Pueblo County, detectives charged Shawn Brotherton, 38, in the Nov. 18 stabbing death of Scott Valencia in Pueblo West. He was already in the Pueblo County Jail on unrelated warrants. "Valencia and Brotherton were arguing when it escalated into a physical altercation that led to the stabbing," the sheriff's office said.

The Aurora Police Department reports its newest K9 officer - Makar - helped "uncover approximately 76 pounds of methamphetamine" during a traffic stop last week.

BARK ABOUT IT! BUY THIS VET'S BOOK

Our headline says it all.

"It Started With A Turtle" is an autobiography and philosophical treatise by Denver's Kevin Fitzgerald. He's a veteran veterinarian, environmentalist, standup comic, bar bouncer - and rock n' roll roadie.

He made his bones in the rock world, he writes, with the Rolling Stones - and that many people seem most impressed by that.

Bouncing shaped his approach to man and beast. Caring, listening and reasoning. Defusing, too. Just plain old common sense. "You had to use psychology," he writes of bouncing.

Your editor's dog - a "scoodle" named Sadie - can attest to his tenderness. She took to him immediately at his animal clinic on Alameda Avenue.

And he was waiting for her in the exam room! Not the other way around.

"What is puppy breath worth or a blind Beagle placing his toy octopus in your hand as you try to get a history from his owners?" he writes. "Memories like these are priceless and add a valuable dimension to a career worth far more than money."

COULD IT HAPPEN HERE? VOLCANO AWAKE AFTER 12,000 YEARS

Overseas, Hayli Gubbi volcano awoke Sunday in Ethiopia's Afar region for the first time in 12,000 years. Colorado's lone active volcano - at Dotsero in Eagle County - has been asleep for 4,200 years. Dotsero's main industry, once upon a time, was production of cinderblocks from volcanic material.

[Photo: Afar Information Bureau via Facebook]

DEAR DEAD

Anti-abortion gunman Robert Dear - who killed a police officer and two women at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs a decade ago - died Saturday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. 

Five police officers and four civilians were also injured in a five-hour siege Nov. 27, 2015.

Dear, who never went to trial due to his mental competence, yelled at his initial court hearing: "I am guilty, there's no trial."

His cause of death wasn't disclosed. He was being held at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.

Medical Center for Federal Prisoners 

JURY CONVICTS DRIVER IN FATAL CRASH

An Arapahoe County jury convicted Taylor Marcus Douglas, 31, of vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a woman and injured her husband at South Chambers Road and East Center Avenue in Aurora on April 15, 2024, prosecutors said.

POLICE BLOTTER

Deputies arrested a stabbing suspect Tuesday in the vicinity of Wagon Box Circle and McArthur Ranch Road in Highlands Ranch, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds but she is expected to survive. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said stun gun suspect Christopher Michael Tomlinson, 46, of Windsor, has been arrested. In Wheat Ridge, four people were sent to hospital after two autos collided Tuesday at West 32nd Avenue and Teller Street, police said. In central Colorado, a suspect was injured during a standoff with Buena Vista police and Chaffee County deputies. "Numerous attempts to contact the individual were made with no success," officials said. "The decision was made to deploy a shield team to the door to open it and insert a drone into the residence, and upon doing this, the subject was found near the door with serious, apparent self-inflicted injuries." In Denver, a pedestrian was struck and injured Monday evening in the vicinity of South Broadway Street and East Dakota Avenue, police said.

RELEASE RADIO EQUIPPED FERRETS

Biologists released 20 black-footed ferrets fitted with radio transmitting collars onto the Heartland Ranch in Lamar this month to study to "which specific predators threaten the ferrets," Colorado Parks and Wildlife said. Drones tracked the critters. 

[Photo: Colorado Parks and Wildlife]

ARREST DOPE PEDDLING SUSPECT IN 'MAJOR' NARCOTICS HAUL

Elijah Archuleta, 23, was arrested on drug peddling charges in what the Colorado Bureau of Investigation describes as a "major narcotics seizure," officials said Tuesday.

Local police and state agents confiscated 110 grams of cocaine, 2,730 fentanyl pills and $1,680 cash. 

Archuleta - who was on probation for a weapons offense - was busted Nov. 20 on Santa Fe Avenue in La Junta in southeast Colorado.

"Authorities stress that individuals involved in illegal drug distribution and possessing a violent criminal past pose a serious threat to public safety," officials said. "This operation underscores the commitment of the La Junta Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to disrupting the narcotics supply chain."

[Photo: CBI]

MISSING ALAMOSA MAN LOCATED

Alamosa police said Nathan William Cobb, who went missing last week, has been located and is safe, according to a press release issued Tuesday. Police were concerned Cobb was in danger after his disappearance.

HOLIDAY WEEK TRAGEDY: 5 DEAD AS STOLEN AUTO CRASHES INTO CAR PACKED WITH KIDS

UPDATE

A stolen auto crashed into car carrying children on Monday evening, killing the driver and three youngsters. The driver of the stolen auto also died.

The Thanksgiving week tragedy occurred on Highway 83 near Russellville Road in rural Douglas County, the Colorado State Patrol said. Two other children were seriously injured. A pickup truck stopped before barreling into the wreckage.

The dead children - all in the same car, a Ford Fushion - ranged in age from 8 to 12. The injured children are 13 and 14. The driver - a man, age 35 - was from Colorado Springs. 

The stolen auto - a Toyota Matrix driven a man, age 31, from Denver - was taken from Aurora shortly before the crash, the state patrol said.  

Franktown fire responded to the accident at 4:45 p.m.

[Photos: Colorado State Patrol, Douglas County Sheriff's Office]  

Dispatch display

FREE 2 FROM CAR THAT HIT BUILDING

 

Firefighters cut two people from a car that slammed into a building early Tuesday at North 30th Street and Centauri Road in Colorado Springs. The victims were sent to hospital. [Photo: Colorado Springs Fire Department]

BEWARE CARD SKIMMERS AT GAS PUMPS, COPS WARN

This photo - courtesy of Fairplay police - shows a "card skimmer." Crooks plant the devices in gasoline pumps to steal credit and ATM card details. Beware! Fairplay police recovered a skimmer at a service station in town.

[Photo: Fairplay Police Department]