DENVER (KDVR) — There are hundreds of unsolved homicide cases, long-term missing person cases, and unidentified remains cases in Colorado where at least three years have passed since the crime happened.
The Colorado cold case task force created a list of those cases dating back to 1970. The Problem Solvers are working to highlight cold cases in our state.
Who killed Angela Wilds?
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Angela Wilds was murdered 16 years ago in Boulder County. Her case remains unsolved to this day.
On June 4, 2006, hikers discovered a decomposing body a few miles from Lyons in the South Saint Vrain Canyon.
Deputies and detectives discovered that the female body appeared to have been pulled from a shallow grave by a predator.
Because of the condition of the woman’s body, investigators were unable to identify her by her fingerprints.
The sheriff’s office said the only object detectives found with the woman’s body was a cross ring.
The coroner’s office was not able to determine the cause of the woman’s death due to the condition of her body. However, investigators believed her death was suspicious because her body had been buried.
The sheriff’s office asked the public for tips to try and identify the victim.
“Numerous tips were followed up on, including information of missing women from around the country. At the time, I recall how sad it was because of the huge number of missing women in the metro area and country and what the family members were going through,” Jason Oehlkers with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said.
Oehlkers said the sheriff’s office followed up on hundreds of names while using resources from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Colorado Bureau of Investigations, and other places to try and identify the victim.
In October 2006, the sheriff’s office received a tip from a friend of the victim who reported her missing. Using DNA comparisons, the sheriff’s office confirmed the victim was 38-year-old Angela Wilds from the Longmont area.
Wilds was last seen in April of 2006. The sheriff’s office said she did not have a home or steady employment and essentially lived with friends while frequently sleeping on couches. Investigators interviewed family, friends, and acquaintances of Wilds but we never found out what happened to her.
In 2009, Oehlkers said investigators received information from CBI linking John Angerer to the crime scene through DNA. Angerer was eventually arrested. However, at a hearing a judge determined there was not enough evidence to move forward with a prosecution.
Detectives have not stopped looking for answers in Wilds’ death. They have followed up on the case, looking for new leads and evaluating and testing evidence as technology improves.
If you have any information about this case or about Wilds, please contact BCSO Detective Mike McKinley at 303-441-4692.
Highlighting cold cases in Colorado
Here are some of the other cases we’ve highlighted:
- Cold case: Who murdered Maggie Long 1,651 days ago?
- Cold case: What happened to Elizabeth Miller 40 years ago?
- Cold case: Who kidnapped Christopher Abeyta 35 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed JonBenét Ramsey 25 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed Jessica Bejarano 15 years ago
- Cold case: Where is Terri Ackerman?
- Cold case: Who killed Richard Elliott at a grocery store 23 years ago?
- ‘Don’t ever give up hope’: Cold case: Who killed Edward Steinbach?
- Cold Case: Who killed Denise Davenport 37 years ago?
- Cold case: Who murdered James O’Neal Johnson 23 years ago?
- Cold case: Where is Jennifer Lynn Marcum?
- 18 people remain unidentified in Denver since 1970
If you ever have a cold case you would like us to feature, please fill out this form or send an email to dara.bitler@digital-staging.kdvr.com :
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows there are currently 21,556 open missing persons cases in the United States and over 300 in Colorado.