January 14, 2016
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A R A P A H O E C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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SouthPlatteIndependent.net
Littleton shooting leaves two dead old son together. Benton also has an 18-year-old son from a previous relationship. Neither boy was home at the time, and police say the younger one is now staying with a grandmother. At 5:30 a.m. on the day she was killed, Benton posted on her Facebook page that someone tried to “break my neck” and that she was on her way to the emergency room. Her last post was at 1:02 p.m., about 90 minutes before she was shot. She said she was waiting for her son at Taco Bell, so she could get money for pain medicine. “Can’t take the pain anymore!” she wrote. Then, at about 2:30 p.m., she dialed
Autopsy reveals man shot woman, then himself By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com Two people are dead after an apparent murder-suicide in an apartment a block north of Littleton High School the afternoon of Jan. 6. The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office said Christa Sue Benton, 37, and David Michael Fallon, 45, both died of gunshot wounds to the head. The autopsy revealed that Fallon mortally wounded Benton before fatally shooting himself. Police are unsure of whether the couple was married, but say they have a 14-year-
Shooting continues on Page 5
Littleton police investigate the scene where David Fallon shot and killed Christa Benton, the mother of his son, before killing himself. Photo by Jennifer Smith
Man gets 96 years in slaying Littleton resident died as result of jealous rage By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com
City Manager Michael Penny and Mayor Pro Tem Debbie Brinkman try to explain that any speculation about a Walmart being built at Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue is simply that — speculation based on a 30-year-old zoning plan. Photo by Jennifer Smith
Walmart: maybe, maybe not 30-year-old zoning on Ensor property allows for big-box retail By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com Somebody said the word “Walmart” before the November election, and the rumors and accusations just keep heat-
ing up. “I don’t appreciate the accusations that there are activities occurring that are not occurring,” said a visibly angry City Manager Michael Penny during the first Littleton City Council meeting of the year Jan. 5. Penny was responding to comments made by Councilmember Doug Clark, who said the city is conspiring with a developer to lure a Walmart to the Ensor
property, 111 acres at Mineral Avenue and Santa Fe Drive. Although Penny admits he used the word “Walmart” at one point, he says he was just using it as an example of what stores could go in there. “I think you’re parsing words to try to achieve a different take on what is really happening,” Clark shot back.
A habitual criminal who murdered his former friend with a sawed-off shotgun has been sentenced to 96 years in prison. On Aug. 13, 2014, Joshua Robert Hoppe, 33, killed James Barnes, 55, at the Littleton home of Hoppe’s ex-girlfriend. “Three prior felony convictions afforded Hoppe multiple opportunities to conform his behavior to the expectations of our community and the Hoppe law. Instead, he murdered a member of that community,” District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement released after the Jan. 4 sentencing. “And then he ran away. Hoppe has earned prison — lots of it.” The incident took place at the home
Walmart continues on Page 12
Hoppe continues on Page 5
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