According to the Daily Sentinel, two eighteen year olds and a twenty-one year old have been charged with murder after allegedly planning it and carrying it out in Fruita. On Friday night and Saturday morning of November 21st and 22nd, an eighteen year old woman, and her uncle, a sixty-two year old man, spent their Friday night at a bar. Her fiancé, who was identified as an eighteen year old male, drove them home and took notice of an interaction between his fiancée and her uncle that he took as a move on her. They all arrived back at the uncle’s residence, which also happened to be where the woman and her fiancé were living at the time. The young man then called his friend, who was later identified as a twenty-one year old, to “teach (the uncle) a lesson”. When the friend later arrived, the woman’s fiancé allegedly planned and executed a murder by striking the woman’s uncle in the head with a flashlight and then strangling him. On Saturday morning, the young couple drove the deceased body to an area north of Mack and hid it behind a bush. They then collected items with blood on them and burned them, at an area located around 21 Road. The woman later told investigators that her fiancé had held a knife up to her neck and threatened her if she were to tell anyone about his plan.
The three alleged perpetrators appeared in court on Monday, November 24th, and received multiple charges, including first-degree murder, felony evidence tampering, and felony abuse of a corpse. Each defendant has a two million cash-only bond placed on them.
Events, like this one, taking place so close to Palisade, can worry students. Senior Christian Warn comments, “I don’t know, that’s crazy. It’s just weird to think that big things like that can happen in small towns. People are crazy nowadays; it’s scary.” Even in troubling times, the Palisade High School staff and the Palisade Police Department are here for you.
