One Drive-By From Murder

I – 25 Shootings along Northern Colorado I25 runs right through a collection of Northern Colorado towns and cities. I’m up in Wellington which is the northern-most town along I25 near the border of Wyoming. In Colorado, I25 runs from Northern cities like Fort Collins, down through Denver and South to Colorado Springs and on down through a series of small towns and south into New Mexico. It’s heavily traveled, especially from Fort Collins, all the way down to Denver. In the spring of 2015, something strange started happening. One Tuesday in April, a van transporting inmates, driving along the interstate, had one of the windows on it just suddenly shatter. Now, this isn’t totally unheard of; there’s always large semis traveling the road and a rock could easily be kicked up and cause damage. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that frustration of seeing a flying rock coming at the windshield and wincing at the impact, knowing you’ll be having to get a chip, or crack repaired. That same week, the rear window of a man’s car shattered near an intersection in Loveland at around 10pm. On that same day, a man driving in his truck, again along the same interstate, was shocked when his passenger side window suddenly shattered. These incidents didn’t seem like a massively big deal in the beginning so they weren’t really paid much attention. But, on April 22, as Cori Romero was merging onto I25 from Fort Collins, felt a blast and pulled over, dialing 911. She said, "I'm on the highway right now and somebody just hit me and I'm bleeding from the neck and I'm scared.” She had been shot through the neck; the bullet narrowly missing her artery. She recovered and survived her injuries, but others wouldn’t be so lucky. Later that same month, these incidents were followed by two more window shatterings, both close to one another, along I25 between 10 and 11am. And yet another similar incident was reported as well along the same interstate. Things were about to get worse. On May 18 of 2015, while out riding his bike along the frontage road that runs parallel to the interstate in Windsor, John Jacoby, 47 was shot and killed at around 10:15 am. He had been shot twice. A motorist driving past spotted John’s body and called the police. John had worked as a part-time park caretaker of Windsor and as a grocery store bagger. He was well-known in Windsor and he rarely missed a Windsor High School football, basketball or baseball game. He suffered from a hearing issue from a young age and didn’t have a driver’s license, so he rode his bike every day. His brother, David was one of the first emergency responders to arrive at the scene of his brother’s death. After these incidents, police started telling the public to be extra aware while driving these areas. Specifically, they asked, “all drivers along the I-25 corridor to remain aware of their surroundings. If you see something that may be out of place or something just doesn't feel right, please contact police immediately." I had opted to take frontage roads and other routes until I heard about the frontage road incident. Then I started avoiding the frontage roads as well. In fact, I barely left Wellington if I didn’t have to, especially if I had the kids with me. More window shatterings were still happening and being reported to the police and FBI who had also become involved in the investigation. On the night of June 3, Donald Chronister was shot at while riding a motorcycle in Loveland. Luckily, he was uninjured, but unfortunately, the shooter wasn’t left satisfied. Only minutes later, Bill Connole, 65 years old at the time, was walking along a Loveland street when he was gunned down. The fatal shot was a bullet to the chest. Bill is described as being a onetime computer-industry worker who later worked at Home Depot. He was a cancer survivor who loved spending time with his grandchildren and enjoyed evening strolls which could be why he was at this particular intersection in Loveland at around 11pm on a Wednesday evening. That’s where he was found bleeding. Despite efforts by emergency workers, he couldn’t be saved. A later autopsy revealed that Bill had been shot at least 19 times, and bullets had struck him in the chest, shoulder and neck. They found multiple exit wounds and shotgun pellet fragments. On September 13, of 2015 two more shootings took place. These weren’t along I25. One was at a medical center and another at an elementary school. Fortunately, the shootings occurred at around midnight so no one was around at the school anyway. No one was injured in either of these. When we come back from the break, I’ll tell you about evidence the task force discovered while investigating the shootings. Police originally put out a call for more info about the driver of a white Ford Explorer that had been in the area of John (the bicyclist’s) shooting. However, that call-out had some negative repercussions according to the task force who put out a statement saying the following: After other methods were unsuccessful at locating the driver of a white Ford Explorer that was in the area around the time of John Jacoby’s shooting, we put out a request for anyone with information on that possible vehicle to contact us. We made it as clear as possible that this driver was not considered a suspect, but just someone we needed to identify and speak with. However, within hours, some media sources began stating that this was our suspect. Because of that, we spoke with several citizens who were scared to call and scared to drive their white Ford Explorers in Northern Colorado because of the reports of that style of vehicle being the suspect vehicle. Frustratingly, the task force could find no solid evidence that the unusual amount of shattered vehicle windows were related to the shooting deaths. They noted that the circumstances showed no distinguishable patterns. They thought that the number of reported shatterings may seem so high because normally, these aren’t reported, they’re accidental and people head to the repair shop. Concern that the shootings were moving more south along I-25 became more pronounced with an incident where a pickup truck’s passenger-side window shattered near Westminster which is just outside of Denver. At the time, the truck was in the center lane, but there wasn’t a vehickle in the lane next to the truck when the window blew out. Luckily, the driver was able to pull over and he wasn’t injured. He called the police and the truck was towed to a police headquarters for processing and analysis. After the murder of Bill and the attempted shooting of the motorcyclist, Donald, police were able to gather surveillance videos and witnesses who saw the truck the shooter was in. It was thought to be a full-size 1970’s or 1980’s single cab Chevy or GMC pickup painted orange except for some black primer on the body of the driver’s side door. Those two shootings were also linked forensically. For the shootings at the Health care facility and the elementary school, police also had a suspect vehicle, but it was completely different than the one related to the orange truck. This was a red 2-door Mini Cooper made between 2002 and 2007. So they linked those two shootings together because of surveillance videos and forensic evidence. (I’m assuming through ballistics.) As for the earlier shootings of Cori (the one shot in her neck) and John, the bicyclist, police were able to link those two shootings to one another forensically. However, investigators found no evidence linking all of these incidents to each other or to a single perpetrator. Basically, cops said that what makes them similar is that they’re random, they’re aimed at people and the timing of them, but they can’t link them all together. The story went national and even international as the Daily Mail in the UK had even written about the fear of a serial sniper on the loose in Colorado that year. In March of 2018, a then 35 year old man named Christopher David Parker was arrested in connection with the murder of Bill (on the street corner) and for shooting at Donald on his motorcycle. He was charged with first degree murder and attempted first degree murder. His arrest was not linked to any of the other shootings that were being investigated. Police have not released why they suspect Christopher of those incidents as his arrest documents remain sealed to the public. We can assume he’d been linked by his truck and through ballistics possibly. His case has been in limbo with mental health matters causing issues going forward into a trial Christopher has been undergoing treatment to restore his mental competency so he can stand trial. A judge has repeatedly ruled that he’s just not mentally able to assist with his own defense. A letter filed by state mental health officials claims that Christopher has refused to take medications prescribed by doctors at the mental health facility he’s being held at because he doesn’t believe himself to be mentally ill. The district attorney wanted to have the court order him to take his meds, but since he’s being treated outside of the county he’s being charged in, the judge says she doesn’t have the authority to order that. So, things are still continuing to be at a standstill with the pandemic. They were looking at options for medical staff to pursue involuntary medication on him but the courts with that jurisdiction aren’t hearing cases right now because of the virus restrictions. As for Christopher’s defense attorney, he said the mental facility had a plan to move forward with his treatment but that they also raised questions of whether his mental health status is even restorable. No one else has been identified as suspects in the other shootings but the cases remain open in case any further evidence presents itself. Be sure to check out our website or socials for images related to this case, there are maps of the major shootings and images of the suspected vehicles. Sources: 99.9 the point Daily mail Cbs4 denver The Coloradoan The Loveland Reporter Herald