Wheatridge transcript 0919

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Transcript Wheat Ridge

Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 30, Issue 13

STORMY WEATHER

September 19, 2013

50 cents

A Colorado Community Media Publication

ourwheatridgenews.com

Stabbing victim arrested as suspect Mother now accused of stabbing self, child By Vic Vela

vvela@ourcoloradonews.com

Heavy rain and damaged roads continued to close multiple portions of the Coal Creek Canyon area. The nearby Blue Mountain Road remained one of the few roads open in the area Sunday night while heavy runoff continued.Photo by Glenn Wallace

Floodwaters drench region Clean-up costs for massive damage not yet assessed By Amy Woodward

a w o o d w a rd @ o u rc o l o r a donews.com Days after torrential rains and flooding hit Jefferson County, the region is still recovering, with several municipalities now surveying the damage. Several schools across Jefferson County remained closed on Monday, Sept. 16, with most closures located in Evergreen and in the Coal Creek Canyon area. As of Monday, Sept. 16, at 12:30 p.m. road closures include: Interstate 70 eastbound off-ramp to Quebec Street; U.S. 40 at Floyd Hill (MP 269.5 to 270.5); SH 44 (104th Avenue) between Brighton Road and McKay Road; SH 72 (Indiana Street) between 72nd Avenue and 80th Avenue; and SH 72 between SH 93 and SH 119 in Coal Creek Canyon

Arvada

The flood waters impacted Arvada on several fronts, according to Wendy Forbes,

Flooding filled pens east of Indiana Avenue on 78th Street Friday morning.Photo by Mikkel Kelly communications manager with Arvada. She said the city has not yet been able to get a complete and accurate account of the damage, due to the still high water levels. She said some roads what will need some repairs. Alkire Street was reopened after being closed, but both Quaker and Indiana will remain closed until repairs can be made. “One good thing about this is how many of the city projects — little ones here and

POSTAL ADDRESS

there — really helped to lessen the damage and really paid off for the community,” she said. “The Ralston Central Park Project that also just finished was a huge help.” Cheryl Keydel, owner of an alpaca ranch on Indiana Street near 78th Avenue, had to relocate 60 alpacas to a friend’s house and to higher ground at the property late last week. “I was just shocked that there was that much water that fast,” Keydel said. City officials measured close to a foot of water running through Keydel’s property, where the city had dug a trench to help divert water from the property to Croke Canal. “They (the city) did a really good job digging that trench,” she said. “I’m proud of them.” Keydel said her ranch sustained minor damages to fences and one shed.

“It’s easing up, I don’t feel like we’re in any danger anymore,” she added. Nearly 140 sixth-graders from Thomson Elementary and Swanson Elementary schools in Arvada were stranded at the Mount Evans Outdoor Lab school site Friday, after the roadway through Evergreen became impassable. The students had safe shelter and provisions, and were eventually safely evacuated according to the Jeffco School District.

Golden

The city of Golden came out relatively well after the massive rainstorm devastated Boulder and Larimer counties. “Golden fared really well during all of this,” Karlyn Tilley, manager of media and Flooded continues on Page 19

The investigation into last month’s Wheat Ridge Greenbelt-area double-stabbing took a bizarre twist last week after police arrested the woman who was once thought to be a victim in the case – no accused of trying to pin the attack of her and her child on a man who she claims raped her years ago. Stephany Harwood, 21, of Lakewood was arrested last week, and was being held at the Jefferson County jail on a felony charge of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. She was given a $100,000 bond. Police believe that Harwood was the one who stabbed herself and her Harwood toddler son on a walking trail on Aug. 22. Harwood then allegedly concocted a story to try to place the blame on Marvin Gean Wilson – a man with a lengthy criminal history and whom Harwood claims she has known since she was a girl. Harwood told police that Wilson attacked her and her son as they were walking along a Greenbelt trail near 48th Avenue and Otis Street. But police aren’t buying her story. Detectives suspect several inconsistencies with Harwood’s account, which is detailed in a 15-page arrest warrant affidavit. And police find it troubling that Harwood allegedly told a neighbor prior to the Greenbelt incident that she recently had a dream about being assaulted by Wilson and that she had a “weird feeling in her stomach” that he was back in the area – the day before the stabbing occurred, according to the affidavit. Harwood was arrested Sept. 13 on a felony charge of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond at the Jefferson County jail. She made her first court appearance on Sept. 16. Police had become suspicious of Harwood’s story even prior to them interviewing her the day after the incident. Detectives were troubled by the number of times that Harwood and her family have filed police reports against Wilson over the years. The first one was a 2007 case, where Harwood helped authorities in an investigation into a sexual assault case that allegedly took place two years prior. Harwood also claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Wilson in Park County that same year, but that case was never prosecuted. In four other reports of incidents involving Wilson that were brought forth by either Harwood or her family from 2008 through Stabbing continues on Page 25

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