Posted inBook Excerpts, SunLit

SunLit Excerpt: “Gone to Darkness” begins with a fog-shrouded mystery by the tracks

Chapter 1 To hell with their laws and restrictions. You have a great and wise heart, Sydney Rose. And that makes for a much better guide to what’s wrong and what’s right. —Effie “Grams” Parnell. Private conversation. My first official homicide investigation began without a corpse.  An actual body is what triggers a murder case. […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News

Colorado mom who fatally abused 7-year-old daughter sentenced to 16 years

By Patty Nieberg, The Associated Press/Report for America A Colorado mother who fatally abused her 7-year-old daughter and lied about her health to get handouts from charities worth at least $100,000 was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison. Judge Patricia Herron issued the sentence to Kelly Turner after she pleaded guilty last month to […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Silverman: Expect the quest for justice for Jonelle Matthews to continue and improve

It was a shocking crime at Christmastime. A Colorado girl snatched at night from her family home. Jonelle Matthews, age 12, vanished on Dec. 20, 1984. America went looking for her, encouraged by a concerned President Reagan. Nearly 35 years later, Jonelle’s clothed and decomposed remains were found at a rural Weld County field, 20 […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News

14 months after an Englewood slaying, the victim’s family pushes to keep the unsolved killing in the spotlight

On a lonely spot in the industrial district where the Little Dry Creek bike path crosses Platte River Drive in northwest Englewood, a hand-engraved metal plate is screwed into a wooden post. It reads: “JOSEPH MICHAEL HIX — MY FRIEND DIED HERE.” The little plaque is the only marker commemorating the life of Joe Hix, […]