Investigation

A two-vehicle crash in Baca County around 9:30 Wednesday night left a Texas man dead and two more people with injuries.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, the crash occurred on Highway 287 13 miles north of Springfield when a 2013 GMC Yukon driven by Justin Wayne Murdock, 35, of Gruver, Texas, drifted into the southbound lane. Murdock was traveling north at the time. His vehicle collided with a 2018 Volvo semi-tractor and trailer driven by Mykola Zhalanavski, 34, of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

Thanks to donations, Colorado Operation Game Thief is increasing the reward offer from $1,000 to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest or citation in the case of two mountain goats that were shot and found dead July 3, approximately 2.8 miles up the Quandary Peak Trail.

A photo of a salmon fillet held to a tree with black electrical tape made it obvious to Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Bob Carochi that a poacher was illegally baiting and killing bears in his district.

The Colorado State Patrol is investigating a single vehicle crash that claimed the life of man from Swink.

According to information from CSP Trooper Michael Tafoya, John Miguel Narez-Estrada, 28, was driving a 2013 Ford Raptor pickup west on Highway 10 about three miles west of La Junta in Otero county. The vehicle drifted off the right side of the road and crashed into a bridge abutment. The pickup became airborne and was engulfed in flames before it landed in an irrigation canal.

Narez-Estrada was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 15-year-old suspect is in custody and a school staff member has been suspended following threats that were allegedly made this week against Elbert School in Elbert county.

Deputies with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office were notified Tuesday about a possible threat against the school. A student reportedly made threats to harm other students, and the threats were considered credible.

The Kiowa County Sheriff's Office is investing a case in which an Ohio teenager was found at a home in Eads.

KCSO was contacted last Wednesday by the Mount Vernon Police Department about an unidentified female who was thought to be en route to Eads in a black semi-truck. The truck was located at a home in the town, and the male driver, who has not been identified, was contacted. The missing teen was also at the home.

Agencies across southeast Colorado also assisted in attempting to locate the truck.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has ordered flags across the state lowered to half-staff in honor of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm, who died Wednesday night after being shot by while responding to a disturbance call.

The suspect in the murder of a Bent County woman has been captured in Peoria, Illinois, after a nationwide bulletin was issued for his arrest.

A Deputy United States Marshall was killed Friday while serving an arrest warrant on a fugitive in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

According to the United States Marshals Service, Deputy US Marshal Christopher David Hill, 45, and two other officers were shot while attempting to arrest Shayla Lynette Towles Pierce at a home in Harrisburg. An unidentified man at the home began shooting at officers, who returned fire and killed the man.

Deputy Hill was taken to a local hospital where he died. The other officers had non-life-threatening injuries and were treated.

The Rio Blanco Sheriff's Office has closed the missing person case for Peter Christian Ruffner, 66, who was reported missing in early October, and had last been seen alive in late September.