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August 20, 2020
ELBERT COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ElbertCountyNews.net
VOLUME 125 | ISSUE 29
Douglas County identifies body found in 1993 The 20-year-old woman has been known as ‘Jane Doe’ until now BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office has taken a step forward in solving a cold cases after investigators, using genetic genealogy, confirmed the identity of a woman found dead in an area between Woodland Park and Decker in 1993. Rebecca “Becky” Redeker, 20, was known as “Jane Doe” for decades after her death. The woman, who spent much of her life in the Colorado Springs area, was found when Sheriff Tony Spurlock was a sergeant with the office. “I remember seeing her at the scene,” he said at a press conference
A photo board, showing several images of Becky Redeker. Her body was discovered in a forest in Douglas County, but has only now been identified.
PPE, protecting vulnerable populations, economic recovery take priority
PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WENZLER
held on Aug. 13 to announce Redeker’s identification. Redeker also lived in the Manitou Springs area from 1985 to 1988 and attended Coronado High School in 1989. That year, she was living in a group home in Colorado Springs. In
1990 and 1991, she lived at a group home in Denver and in 1992 she moved around to multiple other areas include Black Forest, Green Mountain Falls and Woodland Park,
BY TABATHA STEWART SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
The Elbert County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve rezoning from agriculture to commercial, as a Special Use by Review, for Healing Pines Recovery Center, located at 5550 County Road 24 in Elizabeth, during the Aug. 12 BOCC meeting. The approval comes after nearly a year of going back and forth with the developer, Paul Leafstedt, in an attempt to quell the objections and fears of neighbors and residents who vehemently expressed their opinions against the recovery center.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10
“Words can’t describe the excitement and relief I am feeling. The knot I have carried in my stomach for 10 months now is gone. That is a long time to go through something this stressful, truthfully it felt like several years,” said Leafstedt. “I am so happy that we get to bring these much-needed services that currently don’t exist, at any level of care, to Elbert County. I’m grateful to have the professional, creative, and compassionate staff who have stuck with us through this turbulent process.” Healing Pines will be a residential recovery center on 40 acres that will house up to eight residents, all men 18 and older, during their addiction recovery process. Leafstedt has stated that all residents would be screened carefully, and those with violent or criminal histories would not be accepted into the program. He hopes to utilize the rural setting in helping with the healing and recov-
BY TABATHA STEWART SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
ery of his clients. Leafstedt filed his formal application for a Special Use by Review on Jan. 20, and a series of public meetings were held, where many residents expressed concerns about the facility being in their neighborhood. Among the concerns were parking, increased traffic, the prospect of unattended recovering addicts roaming the neighborhood, and having single men, recovering from addiction, living next to children on neighboring lots. Some of the public meetings ran so long with public comment that the BOCC carried the discussion over to subsequent meetings. Those delays, coupled with COVID-19 restrictions, repeated requests for more information by commissioners, and contention from community members were frustrating to Leafstedt and his team.
Through the Coronarivus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Elbert County will receive $2,294,004 in reimbursement to offset costs incurred for fighting the spread of the virus, protecting community members and helping restore economic balance within the county. The money can be used for anything related to COVID-19, but any program, purchase or project must be completed by Dec. 30, 2020. The money cannot be used for already budgeted items or put into the general fund. Any money that is not used by the end of the year goes back to the State of Colorado. “If we can spend every dime within our community we can make huge impacts here,” said Commissioner Chris Richardson, at the Aug. 12 Elbert County Board of County Commissioners meeting. “Anything not spent by the end of the year goes back to Colorado, and $2 million in Denver could have a much smaller impact than here.” Under a county proposal for spending the money, $103,085 of the funds would be distributed proportionately to the towns of Simla, Kiowa and Elizabeth, under an intergovernmental agreement, and each town would use those funds for individual town needs.
SEE CENTER, P5
SEE FUNDS, P2
SEE BODY, P13
Recovery center in Elizabeth gets green light County OKs rezoning after imposing conditions on Healing Pines
Elbert County ponders CARES funds
CLIMBING FOR A CAUSE
A University of Denver student summits peaks to help the homeless P10