A 41-year-old man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison Thursday for kidnapping and murdering a woman in Douglas County, district attorney officials said.
On Thursday, a Douglas County jury found Casey Childers, 41, guilty of three felony charges: first-degree murder after deliberation, second-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping, according to court records.
District Judge Natalie Stricklin sentenced Childers to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder and 48 years in prison for the kidnapping charges. The sentences will run concurrently.
In November of 2021, Childers worked with two other defendants — 46-year-old Shantel Edlund and 23-year-old Leo Vanbuskirk — to kidnap and murder 29-year-old Rachel Holeman, according to a news release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
“This was not a hastily committed crime; it was deliberate, calculated and cruel,” District Attorney John Kellner said in the release. “Casey Childers deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
Holeman was reported missing in Fort Collins in early November of 2021, and police officers were able to track her last known location to Aurora, DA officials said in the release.
During the investigation, Douglas County sheriff’s deputies responding to an unrelated burglary call on Nov. 7, 2021 drove past a Chevrolet Malibu sedan near South Parker Road and Russellville Road and ran the license plates, the release stated.
Childers, Edlund and Vanbuskirk were arrested on Dec. 29, 2021 in Sheridan, Wyoming on unrelated drug charges and warrants while driving the sedan.
When Aurora investigators connected the Chevrolet Malibu to the three suspects, they were able to use the deputies’ dashcam footage and records of the license plates being run to connect Parker Road to the woman’s disappearance, officials said in the release.
The Aurora Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Douglas County’s Search and Rescue Team flew a drone over the area and found Holeman’s body — more than a month after her disappearance — off the side of Parker Road.
Holeman died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the coroner’s report.
“The evidence shows this defendant senselessly murdered and left her body in a remote part of the county where he thought no one would find her,” Senior Deputy DA Corrie Caler stated in the release. “Fortunately, an alert deputy responding to a different call took the time to run a plate which helped narrow down the search area for Rachel.”
Edlund took a plea deal in August of 2022, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in exchange for charges of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping being dropped from her case, according to court records.
The 46-year-old was sentenced to 18 years in the Department of Corrections by Stricklin.
Vanbuskirk also took a plea deal, court records show.
In May, the 23-year-oldpleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and related weapons charges, according to court records. The plea deal also dropped charges of first-degree murder from his case.
Vanbuskirk is set to appear in court for sentencing on Oct. 16.
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