Obviously it's an important piece of evidence that he moved the car because it shows he's covering up the crime. Ive been here over an hour just waiting., Schelling didnt show up to work on Feb. 5, and a worried co-worker tried calling her. Torres detailed a text from Lucas to Schelling just before noon that said, Um, yeah you can if you werent scared to get fired. As freshmen, while she was a psychology student, he was an athlete who dreamed of being a professional basketball player. Binet asked Lucas if he had any idea where Schelling might be, to which Lucas replied: Honestly, Im not too sure. I miss all the things that we didn't get to do together., 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Waiting for your permission to load facebook comments. According to her, Schelling had gotten confirmation of her pregnancy on the day she disappeared. Trace #DNA of #Lucas was found inside a pair of gloves and two sweatshirts. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. PUEBLO, Colo. CBI Investigator Kevin Torres remembers it like yesterday. Lucas said that he would help support the baby, according to Saxton. Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. She texts again at 11:24 p.m., saying Where are you? Those charges were later dropped when investigators found out that she would sometimes give him permission to use her bank card, and he was released. Then, prosecutors played Lucas interrogation tape for the jury. Schelling replied that she did want Lucas to accompany her to the doctor until I realized thats the last place you wanted to be.. Donthe Lucas was charged with killing his 21-year-old girlfriend, Kelsie Schelling, who was pregnant at the time. Contests & Promotions, 2023, Pikes Peak Television, Inc. Colorado Springs, CO, USA, Divide mother missing for two years, family begging for any information, One man injured in shooting on Pueblos east side Friday afternoon, El suicidio de un menor argentino conmueve a Espaa. NR | 03.26.21 | 01:20:44 | CC more episodes 42:55 D. Reaction to proposed dangerous dog ordinance, Assault weapons ban introduced in Colorado legislature, Commercial fire on South Academy Boulevard, Pueblo man sentenced to 11 years for armed robbery, Challenge course open at Lake Minnequa Park, Best athletic wear for kids joining baseball and, How to watch all the Oscar-nominated movies in style, Best smart home devices for older users, according, Infants death linked to contaminated breast pump,, CAT scan: Pet goes through X-ray machine at Virginia, Man suffers life-threatening injuries in Pueblo shooting, Deputy identified in deputy-involved shooting, CMZoo needs your help winning national award, Hidden Gem: Ice wall near Colorado Springs. In February 2013, Kelsie Schelling was very happy to find out she was eight weeks pregnant, according to ABC News. Lucas had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges. First published on March 8, 2021 / 11:59 PM. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play. However, due to technical difficulties, nobody in the public or the reporters pool could see or hear what was said or asked. She said shed have to think about it and drove home. Around the same time, texts were also being exchanged from Lucas and Schellings phones. He believes her murder does have to do with the #DontheLucas trial, even though Denver police have said they believe there's no connection. : The UN in Libya; 3. After 13 days of trial, the defense surprised many when they announced they would not call any witnesses and immediately rested their case. Around that time, Torres said, is when Schellings car was parked at the South Side Walmart, as evidenced by surveillance video of the parking lot. After all, this way, there would be no physical evidence left behind. Re-examine a current true crime case where unanswered questions remain and the mystery is still unraveling. Rivera said that Lucas once told him while they were about to play a game of cards that investigators would never find Schelling's body. The argument between Schelling and Lucas, according to the exchanged texts as recounted by Torres, continued into the early morning hours of Feb. 4. We did not have a body that would've told us location No modus operandi of how she died. Regardez le Salaire Mensuel de Michael Jackson Bad 25 Documentary en temps rel. Police found surveillance video showing Lucas driving her car at an ATM 12 hours after Schelling arrived in Pueblo. They found out that hed withdrawn $400 from her bank account. He comes off so lost and hurt. She had just seen her unborn child on an ultrasound, and she sent that photo to her on-again/off-again boyfriend. Cadry -- that was the name she was going to give the child, Colby Schelling said. PUEBLO, Colo. (KDVR) After numerous delays in the trial of the man accused of killing Kelsie Schelling in 2013, Donthe Lucas was found guilty by a jury in in a Pueblo courtroom. However, nothing was found. Emmanuel Chandler, then 29, turned himself in for the crime and has not yet entered a plea.. No one but the investigators knew what Martinez was planning to say in her testimony. "Kelsie Schelling was feloniously killed when Donthe Lucas committed first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter against Kelsie and Sara Lucas and Lucas acted as. She said she doesn't have her phone, and she said she'll be getting ahold of you.. She was happy. On Feb. 4, 2013, Saxton said she called Kelsie's phone several times but didn't get an answer. For years, Donthe maintained that he had nothing to do with Kelsies disappearance and had no idea where she could be. Emails the messenger had sent proved to be untraceable and an FBI analysis of their Facebook page revealed they used an IP address in Russia. In December 2017, almost four years after Schelling's disappearance, Lucas was charged with her murder. The Pap smear was abnormal, Tatesaid, seemed to show that Schelling might be at risk for cervical cancer and could possibly have had human papillomavirus (HPV), warranting a follow up evaluation. Saxton never met with Marcus at the McDonalds after Vancouver Police backed out of their involvement, believing it to be a scam. If At 1:34 p.m., Lucas sends another text saying, sorry again about the loss, telling Schelling he will soon be going up to Denver to drop off her car. Eric Bravo said. Silly, she was so silly., I miss being silly with her, Saxton added. At 11:14 p.m., he changes plans and tells Schelling to meet him, where you usually do, seemingly referring to an intersection near his grandmothers home where Schelling had picked him up on previous occasions. Ad Choices, Benjamin Satterthwaite; Kelsie Schelling; Donthe Lucas, Criminal defense attorney Danielle Iredale, Body parts found in suitcases, luggage tags lead to suspected killer; Kelsie Schelling update - TCDPOD. The prosecution asserts Kelsie was killed sometime between midnight the night of Feb. 4 and before 3 a.m. the morning of Feb. 5. I mean, it's a sad story. Schelling left work shortly after 8:40 p.m. and drove two hours to see Lucas in Pueblo. They asked the family to deliver $50,000 in cash to the same McDonalds in Vancouver, where a man named Marcus wearing a red hat would be waiting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I plan to make things work. I'm really grateful to know that we know the answer, Saxton said. Former FBI agent and cellular software expert Scott Eicher testified Friday that cell phone records showed Schellings movements that night -- her phone, Eicher said, left the area of her employment in Denver, traveled south on Interstate 25 and eventually arrived in Pueblo. One minute, he had no involvement. You heard from Detective Kevin Torres how important the first 48 hours of an investigation are, and this defendant had 264, Chostner told the jury in closing arguments. This article has been updated, and we apologize for the error. Donthe took that away from me.. He said Schelling wanted a relationship but thats not what he wanted. Police found Schelling's car in a Walmart parking lot in Pueblo a few days after she was reported missing. Kelsey Ann Smith (May 3, 1989 - June 2, 2007) was an Overland Park, Kansas teenager who disappeared on June 2, 2007 and was murdered that evening. Even though Kelsies remains have never been found, shes long since accepted her daughters death. I deliberated on it and I looked at the practicalities of it, Chostner said. PUEBLO The Pueblo murder trial of Donthe Lucas, who is accused of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling in 2013, continued Wednesday following testimony from various experts on evidence found in her vehicle. On February 4, 2013, 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling . 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling was two months pregnant when she drove from Denver to Pueblo to see her former boyfriend Donthe Lucas. Later, when Schelling's car was recovered, Lucas' DNA and a strand of his mother's hair were discovered inside. I never was.. Emmanuel Chandler was arrested for Martinez's death. Initially, their relationship seemed idyllic. S43 E19 Finding Kelsie A young woman goes missing. Though they have strong suspicions thats where Kelsie Schelling is, authorities say it would be next to impossible to conduct a systematic search of the landfill for her remains. Weeks passed until police learned they needed to move quickly to catch Lucas. Let me get her out of here. On the day she reportedly disappeared, GPS on her phone showed it traveled to the same location in Pueblo as Lucas' phone. The next day, Schellings father tried to get in touch with her and received a strange text waving him off. Donthe Lucas (credit: Pueblo Police Dept. The website gives the following. Circumstantial and forensic evidence are prominen Saxton testified that she wasn't happy with the Pueblo Police Department's investigation, saying they weren't willing to coordinate with her on searches to try and find Kelsie. It was tense because the time was ticking away, and the tires were turning on the road, Chostner said. She definitely had that phone with her, Lucas said. Investigators have said he took $400 out of her account on that day. However, even when the two moved away to pursue their respective careers, they continued dating up until the moment Kelsie disappeared. Though Lucas had also previously denied having Schelling's cell phone, a comparison of his own cell phone records to hers later helped police uncover video evidence at a landfill that matched Lucas' general location at the time, per ABC News. wordlist = ['!', '$.027', '$.03', '$.054/mbf', '$.07', '$.07/cwt', '$.076', '$.09', '$.10-a-minute', '$.105', '$.12', '$.30', '$.30/mbf', '$.50', '$.65', '$.75', '$. That man, Donthe Lucas, was convicted for her murder and sentenced to life in prison on Monday. Binet testified Monday he contacted Donthe Lucas on Feb. 10th. So-called jailhouse snitches are often considered to be not credible as jurors often ask what that witness may have received in return for testifying. Torres, continuing his testimony from Friday, began the fourth day of the trial by detailing alleged text exchanges between Lucas and Schelling on the night of Feb. 3 and the day of her disappearance Feb. 4, breaking them down minute-by-minute and hour-by-hour as the conversation unfolded. Torres said Lucas never took the car to Denver. Lucas and Schelling continue to exchange texts throughout the day of Feb. 4, beginning before her OBGYN appointment. Saxton got choked up when identifying her daughter's birth certificate, passport, and an expired passport from when #Schelling was "just a little girl." PUEBLO, Colo. (KKTV . Then, he proposed to her. From the moment she realized Schelling was missing, Saxton led the fight to find her daughter. (1) 2021 TV-14. In cross-examination, Lucas attorneys sought to discredit Walkers testimony by pointing out she has testified for prosecutorial bodies about trends in domestic violence more than 75 times in the past, and only testified on behalf of the defense in one prior case. As difficult as it was, its not impossible. This verdict came after the prosecutors shined a light on Donthes relationship with Kelsie and argued that he lured her to Pueblo to kill her after learning about the pregnancy. Ryan Rivera, a former Pueblo County Jail inmate and a friend of Lucas, also testified. I will support you whether Donthe is in the picture or not in the picture. The community organized search efforts to try and find Schelling with her family filing a lawsuit in 2015 against the Pueblo Police Department and the Lucas family. Their argument continued through texts beyond 4 a.m. MORE:Lucas trial day 1: Former inmate testifies Lucas admitted guilt to the murder, Later that morning, Torres read texts from Schelling to Lucas that said, Im sorry for hanging up on you over and over. In this week's True Crime Daily Podcast: An update to the Colorado cold case murder of missing pregnant woman Kelsie Schelling (1:50). Laura Saxton fought tirelessly for justice in the case of her missing pregnant daughter. Ultimately, after hearing the prosecutors say that the most intimate and personal way to extinguish a life is wrapping two hands around a persons neck gripping their trachea, restricting their air, restricting their oxygen, the jury agreed with their arguments. You dont have to marry me. Leave me alone, Lucas said. Yet, in November 2017, he confessed to being the one who had abandoned her vehicle at the St. Mary-Corwin hospital, where it was eventually found. There are also limits on the number of people who can be in the courtroom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I knew once her car was found that something horrible had happened, because there's just no way that she would've gone somewhere and left her car, Saxton said. Plus, a baggage claim sticker leads to an arrest after human remains were found in two suitcases on the side of a Denver road in December (30:07). Her friend was also in communication with Schelling's mom, Laura Saxton. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. During the trial, investigators had revealed troubling information about Schellings possible whereabouts. Schelling's body has never been found. Schelling disappeared almost six years ago when she was heading to see Lucas in Pueblo. In September 2016, a stressed and worried mother, Laura Saxton, reached out to him, hoping to reinvigorate the case of her missing daughter, Kelsie Schelling. Kelsie's mother Laura Saxton can barely hold back the tears. She wanted to be a mom.. I dont want to fight at all, I want to give you this, he wrote. Please enter valid email address to continue. Without a body or any direct evidence that tells us something happened to her, [changing the case] to a homicide, it may happen one day, but right now we haven't had any evidence to reclassify it, former deputy Pueblo police chief Andy McLachlan said. Opening statements were set to begin just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, and. We know that that's his phone. Love you Donthe.. Kelsie Schelling's childhood rocked with emotional fallout from family split: Part 1Schelling's parents got divorced and she lived with her mother, Laura Sax. It was years before he went to trial for Schellings murder. 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling was two months pregnant when she drove from Denver to Pueblo to see her former boyfriend Donthe Lucas. A little bit later, he got back with me. YouTube: Body parts found in suitcases, luggage tags lead to suspected killer; Kelsie Schelling update - TCDPOD, TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases SUBSCRIBE: APPLE PODCASTS / SPOTIFY / STITCHER / GOOGLE PODCASTS / YOUTUBE. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. I felt like he did genuinely develop feelings for me and did genuinely fall in love with me. She confirmed for us Donthe admitt[ed] it was him in the Walmart surveillance video that [he] had dropped Kelsie's car off and then returned the next day and picked it up, Torres said. Sinnema said Lucas told him that Schelling returned later that morning, again to discuss their relationship. A recording of their conversation was introduced as evidence. The suit criticized the way the investigation was handled but was ultimately dismissed. Schellings car was discovered more than a week after her disappearance without a trace of the young expectant mom. Next on the witness stand was Kathleen Tate, a medical doctor who handled Schellings original OBGYN visit on Feb. 4. Schelling,. It made me sick. The lead investigator on the case from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation believes Schelling was strangled by Lucas after he lured her down to Pueblo. Her mother, Laura Saxton, also knew about their tumultuous alliance. Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. The jury convicted Lucas after approximately four hours of deliberation. Tatesaid her evaluation of Schelling showed no indication of prior pregnancies, miscarriages of abortions. MORE:Lucas trial day 3: Kelsie Schelling's friends continue testimony, cellphone records discussed.