Posts tagged injuries
Serial killer identified 4 years after his death
Jun 10th
Case Summary
On July 1, 1982, several fishermen discovered the decomposing body of a female in a ravine near the 32,000 block of Boulder Canyon Drive in unincorporated Boulder County. Investigators found that the victim, 20 year-old Susan Becker, had sustained 13 stab wounds to her torso and neck and died from her injuries. A black handled knife, believed to have belonged to Ms. Becker was found near her right hand; it was later determined that the knife had not caused the wounds to Ms. Becker. The body was clothed at the time that it was discovered and was covered with a towel, presumably placed there by her assailant. Some of Ms. Becker’s personal effects were found in a day pack with the body.
Ms. Becker was raised in the Boulder area and frequently spent time in Boulder Canyon sunbathing. She was last seen in Boulder by a friend sometime during the morning of June 20, 1982.
At the time, Sheriff’s detectives were unable to identify a suspect in Ms. Becker’s death. Mr. John Agrue figured as a person of interest in the investigation, however, declined to cooperate with investigators. His extended family was interviewed by detectives, and statements indicating that Agrue had hiked in the area where Becker’s body was found were provided, however, there was not enough evidence to link him to Ms. Becker’s murder.
John Agrue had been previously convicted in the 1966 murder of his 14 year old sister-in-law, Susan Marino, in Illinois He was paroled in January 1982 after serving 16 years of a 20-50 year indeterminate sentence and moved to Boulder, and then to Longmont shortly thereafter.
On July 9, 1982, 94-year-old Orma Smith’s body was found in the Big Elks Meadows area, south of Estes Park, Colorado. Ms. Smith resided in Longmont; John Agrue was her neighbor at the time of her death. Larimer County Sheriff’s investigators were unable to link him to Ms. Smith’s murder at the time.
On July 15, 1982, Agrue attempted to abduct a 26 year-old female student at knife point while she was starting her car on the University of Colorado Campus in Boulder. The student was able to flag down a passing University employee who rendered assistance. Agrue was arrested and convicted of the crime.
After serving his sentence in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the attempted abduction, Agrue was returned to Illinois in 1984 to complete his sentence for the murder of his sister in law, his parole having been revoked following his conviction in Colorado. After his release in 1989, he lived in Illinois, where he died in 2009 after an accidental drug overdose. Subsequent to his death, relatives discovered numerous women’s purses, jewelry, and other effects in his home, along with newspaper articles about the attempted abduction of the 26 year-old female, the Smith homicide, and Becker homicide.
In June 2010, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office announced that advances in DNA evidence and comparison (a technology unavailable in 1982) definitively linked Argue to Orma Smith’s murder. Boulder County investigators, working with Larimer County and Illinois law enforcement officials,
re-evaluated Agrue’s potential involvement in Ms. Becker’s death.
There were a number of similarities in the three homicides and the attempted abduction: three of the four involved young women (Ms. Smith being the exception), their purses or personal effects were taken by the suspect, and all involved the use of a knife. The three homicide victims died from multiple stab wounds inflicted upon the same area of the body; Ms. Marino’s ,Ms. Becker’s and Mrs. Smith’s bodies were found in or near mountain streams.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office recruited the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Behavioral Analysis Unit, presenting them with the case facts from the four investigations. Upon review, the FBI’s experts concluded that it was highly probable that Mr. Agrue was responsible for Susan Becker’s murder. Detectives shared the case facts and the FBI experts’ opinions with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office and solicited their opinion. They agreed that there was probable cause to believe that Mr. Agrue was responsible for Susan Becker’s death and, that if he were still alive, they would pursue murder charges against him.
The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit is also investigating the potential of Mr. Agrue having been involved in other homicides as a serial killer.
Sheriff’s office release
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Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks news
Jun 7th
Specifically:
• A report of a sinkhole forming in the middle of the Teller Trail. Collapsing edge was fenced off until repair could begin.
• A series of wildfires that occurred near Celestial Seasonings caused by a train creating sparks. A Ranger tied in with local crews to put out the string of small conflagrations.
• A mountain lion in a yard on a cache in the 700 block of Juniper. The lion was seen to have experienced some type of trauma. Rangers worked with CPW to tranquilize the cat in an attempt to relocate. The lion did not survive and upon examination had massive injuries consistent with a fight with another lion. Awaiting necropsy results.
• Rangers located a wanted subject camping along the S. Boulder Creek on the Van Vleet Property. His warrant was from Aurora for trespassing when he attempted to hitch a ride on a train.
• Another coyote attack on a dog. This one was on the Gunbarrel trail. RP was walking with 2 dogs one of which was attacked. The other dog attempted to help his buddy. No serious injuries.
• Injured hike in Bear Canyon. Twisted ankle. Rangers worked with AMR and Boulder Fire to evacuate the hiker from Mesa Trail at Bear Canyon.
•Two ill hikers at once. A Ranger assisted AMR and Boulder Fire evacuate an adult male who had overheated. The same ranger then assisted an 11 month old who had been hiking with his mother. No serious injuries.
•A Ranger happened upon an injured raccoon that needed to be put down.
•Rangers were called to an assault in progress on the Baseline Trail. A 67 year old male was photographing the Chautauqua meadow when an unknown subject approached him from the area of the Ski Jump Trail. The unknown subject had a 3 foot stick which he used to strike the victim on the left side of his head. The suspect struck the victim a second time but he was able to fend off that blow with his arm. The suspect then fled back up into the woods. A massive search was conducted by Rangers and the BCSO including a K-9. The suspect has not yet been located or identified. The victim did get 2 blurry photos of the suspect prior to being hit. Investigation on-going.
Towhee/Homestead
Seasonal employees have been in the area to remind people of these changes.
Outreach staff to hit the trails
As of the afternoon of 5/28/2013, the new regulations went into effect. We will be conducting outreach on the Towhee & Homestead trails. On Old Mesa we will not be conducting outreach, at least not now. We are going to break with tradition and have outreach staff hike the trails as we conduct outreach, rather than set up at the South Mesa Trailhead. The focus will be Towhee, as that’s the big change. Everything should be up to date as far as signs. Please keep me aware of contact numbers, public feedback & compliance. Here are the long awaited changes:
Towhee Trail: Will change to “NO DOGS”. There is a short section at the start of the Towhee trail that will remain voice and sight, until visitors come to the junction with the Homestead trail. That is where Towhee becomes “No Dogs”.
Homestead Trail: This trail will remain “Dogs must be under voice and sight control with a green voice and sight tag”, until you get to the bridge where it crosses the Towhee drainage. That small section (approx. 20 feet from either side of the bridge) will become “dogs must be leashed”.
If you have not been on this trail since the reroute, you should hike up there and take a look.
Old Mesa Trail: This trail (and surrounding drainage area) will now be “dogs must be leashed”, from the social trail just off the shadow canyon trail, down to our property line near Eldorado Springs. FYI there is no public access from the Eldorado Springs side as the trail leads you down to private property.
Visitors should consider this a down and back, not a destination trail.
We are now implementing regulations that were decided on during the West Trails Study Area planning process (WTSA) which included the Community Collaborative Group (CCG) which was an extended community input process. The input process began in 2009 was completed in 2011. Only recently have the regulations and signs been changed. If you would like to learn more about how that process worked, you can go to our website OSMP.org
The Towhee Trail’s new regulations help protect the riparian area it goes through. It is a heavily traveled wildlife corridor. The changes also provide a “no dog” experience for hikers. Most of the surrounding trails allow dogs.
The Homestead trail’s regulation change was made to protect the riparian area and sensitive vegetation through the Towhee drainage.
Trails news:
On Saturday, June 1st, we had 22 volunteers help construct the new trail re-route at Upper Big Bluestem as our National Trails Day project. (National Trails Day is a national trail volunteer event sponsored by the American Hiking Society.)
This year, OSMP volunteers constructed 240 feet of the new trail re-route, and installed a new pedestrian gate in the fence line. The weather was great; volunteers worked hard, and completed a lot of great work. It takes a small army to pull off these projects. Manythanks go to:
–Trails staff John Leither and Frances Boulding for project planning and logistics.
–Kristin Weinberger for promoting the project, recruiting volunteers, implementing day-of logistics (food, registration, etc), and arranging for great food from Black Cat!
–Trails crewmembers Sean Murphy, Beau Clark, Alex McClellan, and John Goepel for doing a great job of leading volunteers on crews!
–Jennelle Freeston and Lisa Dierauf for supporting project logistics and planning.
Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol is kicking off their trail work season by helping OSMP maintain the Springbrook Loop. The Bike Patrol worked on Prairie Vista Trail with us in 2011 and 2012, and is taking on a number of trail maintenance projects on Springbrook for 2013. Their goal is to do projects at least once a month, typically the last Thursday of the month during the evening hours. OSMP trails staff plan trail maintenance work, and meet up with the group to lead the project. On Thurs, May 30th, we had eight volunteers work with us for the first project of this year. They completed eight rolling drainage dips on Springbrook North to help shed water off of a roughly 500-foot section of trail that is experiencing moderate erosion issues.”
OSMP press release