Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

On Sunday, August 27, 1972, two hikers discovered human remains near a foot trail on the top of a hill in a forest area just inside unincorporated Jefferson County, CO. The skeleton was found on Forest Road 554, off Highway 285, about one mile east of the line between Park and Jefferson Counties. The site is near the Miller Gulch Trailhead, inside the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. The discovery was made southeast of Bailey, Park County, CO, which is the closest large community to the exact location.  The hikers promptly reported their discovery to the Park County Sheriff's Office; officers from that jurisdiction then notified authorities in Jefferson County. Responders to the scene named by the press were a Lieutenant Perkins, Investigator Piper, and Officer Robbins of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO), as well as Dr. John Hunt of the Coroner's Office. Captain Denny Boeka of the JCSO later responded to questions from the press.  At the scene the investigator...

Constance Marie Paris, who also went by the nickname Connie, was an 18-year-old senior at Englewood High School in Englewood, Arapahoe County, CO. She lived with her parents, James and Marylou Paris, and her two younger brothers, Chris, 15, and Jeff, 11. Her father, James, was a postal worker. The Paris family lived at 3965 S Lincoln St. Disappearance  Connie was last seen by her family at about 5:30pm on Tuesday, March 26, 1968 when she left home to work on a research paper for school at the downtown Denver Public Library, as its resources were more abundant than those at the Englewood Public Library. It was reported that Connie went to the DPL's Central Library at W 14th Ave and Broadway. Connie finished working and packed up to leave at about 9:00pm, then rode on her usual 9:30pm bus home. She was seen getting off the bus — operated by Denver Tramway — by both its driver and three other passengers. She got off at her usual stop at the corner of S Broadway and E Girard Ave, ...

Marie was born Marie Sandra Abbatiello on March 8, 1947 in Nassau County, NY to parents Thomas Martin Abbatiello and Lucy M Caggiano. She often went by her middle name, Sandra. She had a younger sister named Philomena. The family was of Italian descent. Sandra moved to Colorado sometime after 1963, possibly by 1966. She married a Black man named Shelton Edward Smith Jr (b. 1952) on October 13, 1976 in Denver, CO. Shelton's name is sometimes misspelled as Sheldon. Sandra took her husband's last name.   [Note:  CBI & Denver Cold Cases got her name wrong: it's Marie not Maria, she often went by her middle name, Sandra, and she did not hyphenate her surname; instead her legal last name was Smith.]   Photo from the Denver Police Department.   By November 1977, Sandra, 30, was working at the Airman's Club on the Lowry Air Force Base. She lived at 215 E 11th Ave with her husband Shelton. Shelton reported his wife missing on Sunday, November 20th, 1977. How long s...

Jack James Kroecker Jr. was born on May 1, 1945, and grew up in Parma, OH. His father, Jack James Kroecker Sr, was the vice president of Permold Inc, an aluminum foundry in Medina, OH.  In 1963 Jack graduated from Parma High School, where he was a district wrestling champion. He then completed three years as a mathematics major at the University of Dayton before being drafted into the US Army in May 1968.  He graduated first in his class at Army Finance School at Ft Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN and took basic training at Fort Knox, KY. At the time of his death he was working in the finance section of Fort Carson in Colorado.  Photo from FindAGrave. Jack, 23, spent Christmas Eve 1968 celebrating the holiday with a fellow soldier in downtown Colorado Springs, El Paso County, CO. They had driven there from Ft Carson in the friend's car. Jack was wearing civilian clothes.  At about midnight on Wednesday, December 25, 1968, Jack returned to his friend's car and l...

Photo from CBI. Larry Gene Loucka was born on June 6, 1946. He first lived in Arizona starting in at least 1961; he may have been born there. He attended his freshman year of high school at Camelback High School in Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ in 1962. Larry then attended Norte Vista High School in Riverside, Riverside County, CA for his sophomore and junior years; it is unknown if he graduated. He then lived in Denver, Colorado for a period of time before moving back to Phoenix, AZ.  In early September 1974, Larry moved back to Denver from Phoenix. Larry was a 28-year-old white man who was known to his friends as "Smiles". His last known address according to one clipping was 1630 Humboldt St. According to his obituary, his address may have been 281 Sherman St. At 11:10pm on Sunday, September 8, 1974, Larry was walking on the sidewalk down the 400 block of E. 11th Avenue, holding a portable radio to his ear. An unknown man then ran up behind Larry and fired three shots, at le...

Sandra JoAnn Rushing was born on August 27, 1960 in Denver, CO to parents Joe Bailey Rushing Jr and Shirley Joan Rushing (nee Otey). Sandra's mom's side of the family was from Denver, while her father's side was from Abilene, TX. Sandra had two older siblings, sister Brenda Kay Tate (nee Rushing) and brother Terry Joe Rushing. Brenda was a little less than four years older than Sandra, as she  was born in late 1956 . Terry was born in late September 1959, making him eleven months older than Sandra; despite this, the two of them were in the same grade in high school. This is likely because Sandra's birth date was on the cusp of the cut off; she was only seventeen years old when she graduated. Sandra's 1978 Lakewood High School senior yearbook photo. The Rushings lived in Denver proper up to at least 1969, though by 1973 they were living in Lakewood, Jefferson County, CO, a suburb of Denver. All three Rushing children went to Lakewood High School. Both Sandra and Terr...

Thomas Gregory Cristiano was born on December 19, 1950 in Denver, Colorado, where he also spent much of his early childhood. He lived with his parents, Joseph Frank Cristiano and Verna Louise Cristiano (nee Place), and his siblings, David and Virginia. Thomas attended high school in Montrose, Montrose County, CO, where his parents were living at the time of their son's death. Some sources may spell the family's surname as "Christiano." Thomas's father had moved his family to Montrose "to get away from the crime and violence we saw there" in Denver. Thomas, however, eventually went back to Denver to be near a school where he was taking a "correspondence computer course." He  was employed at the Western Drive Inn on East Colfax Avenue in Denver. Thomas also had an interest in art. According to letters written to his family, he had planned to paint a night scene of the State Capitol Building at some point.  Photo from CBI. Late in the evening of F...