Week of March 3, 2022
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
DouglasCountyNewsPress.net
VOLUME 120 | ISSUE 17
New information Records offer detailed look released in at day superintendent Wise was fired Meetings, texts and calls Franktown-area track board members’ double homicide
behavior
BY JESSICA GIBBS JGIBBS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Douglas County School Board member Elizabeth Hanson hung up the phone on board President Mike Peterson in less than seven minutes. He called Jan. 28 to let Hanson know he and Vice-President Christy Williams met privately with then Superintendent Corey Wise earlier that morning. They had told Wise the board majority of Peterson, Williams, Becky Myers and Kaylee Winegar individually agreed the district needed to go in a new direction with leadership. Hanson lambasted Peterson, ended the call, sent fellow minority Director David Ray a text reading “9-1-1” and then called Director Susan Meek. Hanson and Meek decided to ask the superintendent about the meeting directly. They looped Wise into their call. He confirmed that Peterson and Williams informed him that morning a “strong four” on the board wanted him out, Hanson said. While the three of them spoke, Wise got a text message. Erin Kane texted Wise a photo. Kane, a former interim superintendent for the district, was rumored as the majority’s favored replacement for Wise. The picture showed a computer screen displaying two paragraphs. The first was from the Jefferson County Schools superintendent contract citing the professional responsibilities of the superintendent, Hanson said. The second
Judge orders release of arresting documents for Casey Devol BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Douglas County Schools into weeks of uproar — quickly called board meetings; alleged open meeting law violations; a subsequent lawsuit over those claims; protests and walkouts; the official firing of Wise; rumors that Kane was predetermined to succeed Wise; fears about retaliation against teachers critical of the board; and a controversially short timeline to find a new superintendent. The pendulum of district controversies swung into motion at roughly 7 a.m. Jan. 28 when Peterson and Williams met with Wise at a Parker coffee shop, bringing to his attention desires among majority board members to change leadership. Public records including recorded phone calls among board
New details have emerged in a double murder case in the Franktown area after a judge in the 18th Judicial District ordered the release of the arrest affidavit on Feb. 22. Casey Devol, 29, was arrested Feb. 9 for allegedly killing his sister and his sister’s boyfriend. The victims, Jessica Mitchell, 32, and Bryan Todd Gray, 34, were discovered Feb. 8 in a garage adjacent to a house on Russellville Road where the two lived. Devol appeared in district court virtually from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 22. Judge Patricia Herron started the hearing by acknowledging that many people in the virtual courtroom were friends and family members of Devol and his sister. During the hearing, the court addressed 14 motions from the defense, including a request for a gag order and a request to prohibit the prosecution from obtaining Devol’s jail records. The gag order was not granted, and Herron agreed to review any request by the prosecution to view jail visitor logs but said it was likely that they would be handed over to the prosecution.
SEE RECORDS, P8
SEE HOMICIDE, P3
Details of how former Superintendent Corey Wise was terminated came to light through a Colorado Community Media investigation. PHOTO BY THELMA GRIMES
paragraph was from Wise’s own contract about the same topic, she said. “Our conversation at that point shifted,” Hanson said, describing all three as shocked. Less than an hour after Wise was told he could step down or face removal, Hanson wanted to know, “Why is Erin Kane looking at your employment contract?” “This was just one more piece of the puzzle that made absolutely no sense to any of us,” Hanson said. This timeline was revealed through public records and interviews by Colorado Community Media. Meetings, calls, texts In a whirlwind marathon of in-person meetings, phone calls and text conversations, Jan. 28 became the catalyst that spurred
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 22
A FLUTTERING DISPLAY A visit to Wings of the Tropics at the Butterfly Pavilion
P14