The body of a 5-year-old boy was found in the Colorado mountains last week, about a month after authorities believe he was abused and died in Texas, according to an arrest warrant. The body of Domenic Patrick Aguilar-Acevedo was found Wednesday in a deep ravine near Fraser, according to an arrest warrant filed in Bexar […]
abuse
Posted inSunLit, SunLit Interviews
Colorado author Melissa Payne drew on her work experience to create a lost teen named Star
Melissa Payne is the bestselling author of ”The Secrets of Lost Stones.” For as long as she can remember, Melissa has been telling stories in one form or another—from high school newspaper articles to a graduate thesis to blogging about marriage and motherhood. But she first learned the real importance of storytelling when she worked for […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Effort to give Colorado child sex assault survivors unlimited time to sue abusers is rejected
In a stunning reversal on Friday, a lead sponsor on a bill that would have given future child sexual assault victims in Colorado unlimited time to sue their abusers and those who allowed their abuse to happen asked that the measure be rejected. Instead, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, said she wants to […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Amid an epidemic within a pandemic, choose you. Leave victimhood behind.
Stay-at home orders due to COVID-19 have created some unexpected social impacts, one of which is a 15% to 30% uptick in domestic violence worldwide. In my own home town, the picturesque Vail Valley, it’s up 20%. Domestic abuse is almost reaching epidemic proportions. An epidemic within a pandemic. A survivor myself, exiting an abusive […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Long after the coronavirus, domestic violence victims will need help
COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders have focused attention on a fact that domestic violence victims and those who work with them have long understood: Dependence on abusers is harmful and sometimes deadly. As researchers who study domestic violence, we think recent reporting on the intersection of social distancing and domestic violence risk is incredibly important, but reflects […]
Posted inSun Investigation
A Denver priest — his dad’s best friend — raped him. The state’s Catholic Church abuse report revealed the secret.
Warning: This story contains explicit descriptions of sexual assault. GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Neil Elms planned to carry his biggest secret to his grave. He thought no one would ever know what he’d kept hidden for 37 years. Elms never told his mother or father, or any of his six siblings. He concealed it through […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Colorado’s Catholic priest abuse reparations program received 78 claims, has already paid out over $1M
Colorado’s reparations program for people abused by Catholic priests when they were children has already paid out more than $1 million to nine of the 78 people who submitted claims by Friday’s filing deadline. Another $500,000 in payments are due to four other victims and more than 60 cases still are being reviewed, said Camille […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Former Colorado priest up for possible parole in sex abuse case; was named in attorney general’s report
FORT COLLINS — A former Roman Catholic priest imprisoned for sexually assaulting a teen in Colorado is up for possible parole. The Coloradoan reports that 57-year-old Timothy Evans told the parole board Monday that he is “absolutely” guilty of abuse but has learned to identify his triggers for abusive behavior and has created a risk management plan […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s former attorney general wanted grand jury investigation of priest abuse scandal — but didn’t get it
Former Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says she would have preferred a criminal investigation of child sex abuse in the state’s three Catholic dioceses and that she talked to former Gov. John Hickenlooper about the prospect of launching one. But as Coffman worked to find a way last year to account for priests’ behavior, she […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
A list of the Colorado priests named in the Catholic church sex abuse report, where they worked and when
The Colorado Sun combed through the 263-page report investigating child sex abuse by priests in Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses and pulled out the names of 40 priests who were mentioned. From the report, we also compiled the parishes, schools and other locations they worked in Colorado during the period the abuse is alleged to have […]