Category: krdo-local-news

Michael Logerwell

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – While the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and local partners continue their criminal investigation into the Davis Mortuary, another state agency is just beginning.

The Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) is seeking to determine the total potential impacts on pre-need funeral contracts that individuals had with the Davis Mortuary.

The DOI is asking consumers who believe they had a pre-need funeral contract impacted by the investigation to contact them.

If you believe you are impacted or have questions, you can file a form online on the DOI website.

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Michael Logerwell

LA JUNTA, Colo. (KRDO) – Agents with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and officers with the La Junta Police Department say they’ve arrested 5 individuals connected to drug trafficking.

The following people were arrested and are facing charges:

Jaycob Butts (30): Obstruction, Resisting Arrest

Adrianna Smith (33): Obstruction

Jordan Del Rio (33): Unlawful Distribution, Special Offender, Dangerous Weapon, Obstruction

Jeremy Del Rio (28): Unlawful Distribution, Special Offender, Dangerous Weapon, Obstruction, Resisting Arrest

Ezekiel Aguilar (30): Outstanding Arrest Warrants 

Zachary James (41): Outstanding Arrest Warrants

CBI says the operation commenced on August 29. Law enforcement officials went to execute a search warrant at 1314 San Juan Avenue in La Junta. CBI explained that the reason for the search warrant was that they had gathered intelligence that linked the residence to the possession and trafficking of stolen firearms. The home had also received repeated complaints involving suspected drug distribution and other criminal activity, the agency said.

Some attempted to flee the residence, others barricaded themselves inside before eventually surrendering, and one person attempted to hide in a closet. The final arrest was made when Zachary James arrived at the home during the law enforcement search. He was arrested on outstanding warrants.

CBI says they were able to recover:

Six firearms, including an SKS battle rifle.

A homemade semi-automatic short-barreled rifle with a homemade suppressor. CBI says these weapons were unmarked and lacked serial numbers.

Approximately 143 grams of fentanyl (an estimated 1,430 pills).

Approximately 17 grams of methamphetamine.

“This operation highlights the commitment of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the La Junta Police Department to address drug and firearms trafficking in our communities,” said Todd Quick, La Junta Police Chief. “The recovery of illegal weapons and dangerous narcotics reinforces the importance of collaborative law enforcement efforts to safeguard the citizens of La Junta and the State of Colorado.”

The law enforcement agencies say the investigation remains active and additional charges may be coming.

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Samantha Hildebrandt

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)– On Aug 31, around 2:20 a.m., the Colorado Springs Police Department arrived at a traffic crash near the intersections of W. Colorado Ave. and 32nd St.

Officers found that a motorcycle had struck a curb before leaving the roadway. The rider of the motorcycle was found dead at the scene.

CSPD has released the identification of the motorcyclist as 28-year-old Dylan Hart.

No other injuries were reported. According to CSPD, speed does appear to be a contributing factor in the crash.

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Marina Garcia

BLACK FOREST, Colo. (KRDO) – It’s been exactly one year since 12-year-old Chase Culp was tragically killed in a car crash at the intersection of Shoup and Herring Road.

Chase and his father were on their way home from basketball practice when a 75-year-old man did not stop at a stop sign and collided with the father and son’s car. 

To commemorate his anniversary, his parents say they thought hard about how to make the best of the gathering.

They invited Chase’s old teammates from the Eagles basketball team, friends, and family to spend the day playing kickball at his home before heading to the site of the incident for a candlelight vigil.

Though it has been a year, his parents tell me it feels like it was yesterday. 

“I think throughout the week…I was reflecting on how young he was and how I will probably miss him more than the years I had to spend with him,” says Chase’s Mother, Leisa Garcia-Culp.

His parents say they are grateful for the community and the Eagles basketball team that have continued to support them and show love for their cherished Chase.

If there is a silver lining to this tragedy, it’s that the crash brought attention to the dangers of the Shoup and Herring Road intersection.

El Paso County has since outfitted the stop sign with solar-powered flashing lights and a warning that cross traffic does not stop, to hopefully prevent a crash, like the one last year, from happening again.

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Michael Logerwell

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Several viewers reached out to KRDO13 on Saturday, up in arms over a performance on the ‘free stage’ at the Colorado State Fair.

The performance, which went semi-viral on Facebook, shows a woman in what looks like a black swimsuit dancing around a pole to music. State Fair officials say it was unexpected, but the performing group says it was not sexual and was a planned performance.

The State Fair officials said the performance was booked through a third-party vendor and that they didn’t know what the content of the act was going to be.

In an email sent to KRDO13, they wrote:

“The events that took place Friday, August 29, on one of our free entertainment stages at the Colorado State Fairgrounds are unfortunate and do not reflect the Fair’s commitment to family-friendly entertainment.

This was part of a series of performances booked by a third-party stage production vendor. The performance’s content was not transparently disclosed before the performance began.

However, the Colorado State Fair takes full responsibility for the performance and for allowing it to continue.  We apologize to all who have been impacted.”

However, the group behind the performance is pushing back against this statement.

KRDO13 spoke to Jaqueline Santos, the owner of Peacock Pole Art and Body Weight Fitness.

She said this is the 4th year one of their performers has put on a show at the State Fair. As for the notion that the performance wasn’t family-friendly, Santos disagrees. She says they specifically curate shows that showcase the power behind pole dancing while keeping it tasteful and family-friendly.

In response to some of the uproar, Santos wrote on social media,

“I want to clarify that our performers at the Colorado State Fair was part of an artistic, athletic, and fully age-appropriate pole performance. Pole is often misunderstood, but it is a legitimate sport and art form—recognized worldwide—with strength, flexibility, musicality, and storytelling at its core.

We take great pride in curating routines that are empowering, tasteful, and suitable for a family-friendly audience. This was not a nightclub act, nor was it intended to be “inappropriate.” It was a celebration of movement, creativity, and culture—just like the other dance and acrobatic acts at the fair.”

KRDO13 will have more on this controversy tomorrow at 5 pm on Channel 13.

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Michael Logerwell

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – “Are you really going to write me a ticket? It’s my birthday!” That’s just one of the excuses El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputies heard during their increased enforcement during Labor Day Weekend.

During a dual morning and evening enforcement period across the Pikes Peak region, 98 drivers were pulled over and 67 tickets were written. The lion’s share for speeding, with the most egregious violation for a driver going 101 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Trying to escape a ticket, drivers told deputies everything from “it’s my birthday,” to “I’m late for an appointment,” and “I’m in a hurry to get to Walmart.”

In total, 58 tickets were issued for speeding, three for careless driving, one for reckless driving, two for expired registration, one for driving without a license, and two for driving without insurance.

Also, one driving under the influence arrest was made. The sheriff’s office, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), says drunk driving crashes increase by as much as 40 percent during Labor Day weekends, making it one of the deadliest holidays to travel.

“These enforcement efforts remind drivers; reckless behavior has consequences and help protect everyone on our roads. As we approach a holiday weekend, we urge everyone to plan ahead, designate a sober driver, and make responsible choices behind the wheel,” said El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal.

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Julia Donovan

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – People who live in parts of Southeast Colorado Springs are cleaning up downed trees and surveying the damage after high winds took a toll on the area Thursday night.

KRDO crews spoke with neighbors in the Chelton and Airport Road area as they cleaned up the mess on Friday. They told us everything happened in a matter of seconds, hearing heavy hail and then loud noises as trees came crashing down and power lines were ripped out.

“I grew up in Illinois, and we definitely had our fair share of microbursts and tornadoes, but I’ve never seen anything that fast,” said resident Keegan McArthur.

Neighbors say power was out in the neighborhood for several hours before it was restored in the early morning hours.

Utility crews in El Paso County, pictured, assess the damage following a Thursday night storm.

We’re told one downed tree caused a gas leak that has since been repaired on Overton Street.

People who live in the area say the neighborhood united after the fact to check on those with more severe property damage and make sure everyone was okay.

“It was cool to see the community come together and start chopping branches and moving things, and everybody was checking on each other,” said Keegan.

“The neighborhood got together, we walked all the way up the street, cleared it – everybody worked as a unit,” Tino Garcia reiterated. “Great neighbors.”

Neighbors don’t believe anyone was injured, but we’re waiting to hear back from authorities for confirmation.

We’ve also reached out to the National Weather Service to see if it plans to send crews out to survey the damage and clarify what weather phenomenon caused it.

A tree came crashing down on Fairmont Street in El Paso County. This photo was taken on Aug. 29, 2025, the morning following the storm.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — An unusually designed but frequently used train crossing just south of downtown will close during the next year and be replaced by a new crossing a mile farther east.

The crossing is located at the intersection of Las Vegas and Royer Streets, situated atop a small but steep hill that can cause low-profile vehicles to become stuck, thereby interrupting train schedules and posing a traffic safety risk.

A study by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) determined that the crossing has a nonstandard design and has had 25 non-fatal vehicle/train collisions since 1975.

Officials said that the project, called the Twin Bridges Project, begins next month.

The first step is building an access road along Las Vegas, a mile east of the existing crossing and under the MLK Bypass on US 24, that will connect to nearby Hancock Avenue and be the location for a new crossing.

The existing crossing will be closed after that construction; Royer north of the tracks will become a cul-de-sac.

Officials said that the affected segment of Las Vegas will close for two weeks at the end of the project.

One lane of traffic in each direction will remain during most of the project, except during the first phase, when there will be one lane closed and another with alternating traffic.

“We’re going to be doing a new at-grade railroad crossing, with a lot of safety features for pedestrians and bikes to be able to make that traverse over the railroad,” said Gail Sturdivant, the city’s deputy public works director.

Drivers told KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior that the existing crossing has existed for as long as they can remember, but no one seems to know when it was actually built.

The crossing is a popular shortcut for drivers traveling between neighborhoods east of downtown, heading to Interstate 25, Security-Widefield, and Fountain.

Sales tax revenue from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority is financing the $12.7 million project.

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Bart Bedsole

A Restaurant Roundup repeat offender got another visit from KRDO13 this week. 

It was back in March that Camin Thai Cuisine on North Academy near Woodmen was first featured on the segment, after it was shut down by a health inspector due to the 15 violations found inside. 

It was cleared to reopen about a week later. 

On August 6, less than 5 months later, Camin Thai failed its next health inspection and then failed a re-inspection on August 20. 

(HEALTH INSPECTION NOTE:  A passing restaurant likely won’t be inspected again for about a year, but a restaurant that fails a health inspection will likely see its next routine visit within about 6 months) 

The violations on August 20 include: 

An employee keeping their personal food in one of the coolers 

There was also some type of healing lotion stored alongside food in a cooler 

Condensation from a cooler was dripping into a container of food. 

A live roach was found in the gasket of a cooler door, and dead roaches of various sizes were found in several locations around the cook line 

When KRDO13 visited Camin Thai on Monday, the door was locked, even though it wasn’t required to be closed last week. 

A sign indicated it would remain closed until Wednesday, August 27. 

Camin Thai Cuisine passed its second re-inspection on September 4 with only one violation found. 

OTHER FAILING RESTAURANTS

Dragon King Restaurant – 6867 Mesa Ridge Pkwy 

Radisson Inn and Suites – 1645 Newport Rd 

Milano Pizza and Italian Kitchen – 1710 Briargate Blvd 

Kung Fu Noodle and Dumplings – 4543 Austin Bluffs Pkwy 

HIGH SCORES

Nara Sushi & Grill – 3117 W Colorado Ave 

Jimmy John’s – 2710 S Academy Blvd 

Cliff House at Pikes Peak – 306 Cañon Ave 

Red Mountain Bar and Grill – 306 Cañon Ave 

Rizuto’s Ice Cream Shop – 4785 Barnes Rd 

Zesty Thai – 12225 Voyager Pkwy 

Dunkin Donuts – 2905 Hancock Expy 

Taco Bell – 441 E Hwy 105 

Subway – 1274 Interquest Pkwy 

La Concha Bakery & Coffee – 124 E Cheyenne Mountain Blvd 

Carl’s Jr. – 4626 Fresh Water Point 

Chuck E Cheese’s – 2925 Geyser Dr 

Subway – 6871 Mesa Ridge Pkwy 

Lebowski’s Taproom – 3240 Centennial Blvd 

Lebowski’s Taproom at Fillmore and Centennial is a spinoff of the 1998 cult classic “The Big Lebowski”, complete with its mid-century modern decor and a large mural of “The Dude”, the main character played by Jeff Bridges. 

Owners David and Monica Kowalski said they originally had planned a 50s-style diner with “elevated pub food”, but they were inspired to go with the current theme during a trip to Iceland in 2019, where they visited the famous Lebowski Bar that opened in 2012.

“That’s just the fun, catchy theme that brings people in. The food has to back it up,” explains Dave Kowalski.

He believes they do back it up, pointing to his wings, which have recently won two awards — one for the wings and one for the sauce. 

The Walter Burger is also an award winner, recently named by Forbes Magazine as one of “18 Burgers To Try” that deviate from the traditional hamburger ingredients.

Dave joked that they planned on opening a restaurant in their retirement, but they are thankful they didn’t wait because it requires way too much work for a retired couple.

While most customers won’t get the same inside look at the kitchen that KRDO13 received, Dave and Monica believe there is another way for diners to know a restaurant is keeping it clean. 

“We always hear that you can always tell how clean a restaurant’s kitchen is by looking at their bathrooms, and so that’s one of the things that’s important,” Dave explains, “We’ve gotten several 5-star reviews from people that said they have the cleanest bathrooms in the city.”

Monica credits muscle memory for maintaining such a clean kitchen, saying her staff prides themselves on doing things the right way.

Like a growing number of other restaurants, the Kowalskis believe that these days, it’s not always enough to give people something to eat. It helps to give them something to do. That’s the reason they offer bingo nights, trivia nights, comedy nights and even the occasional tamale-making class.

The location on Centennial is the first one, opening just over two years ago in August of 2023, but the couple says they are considering opening a second location closer to their home in the area of Powers and Briargate Parkway.

Keep an eye out for the KRDO13 Restaurant Roundup awards at your favorite restaurants, to know the kitchen is clean.

Click here for a full list of recent health inspections in El Paso County.

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Celeste Springer

UPDATE: Following the publication of this article, it was announced that the coroner has resigned. His resignation means that there will now be no need for a recall election.

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A notice of eviction was posted on the doors of Davis Mortuary on Aug. 28. Pueblo County Clerk’s Office says a recall election for Coroner Brian Cotter could cost taxpayers upwards of $480,200.

The clerk’s office says residents have submitted a Notice of Intent to circulate a recall petition to oust Cotter from office. He recently came under fire after 24 bodies were allegedly found in various states of decay in a hidden room of his privately-owned mortuary.

READ MORE: Pueblo County Coroner accused of hiding bodies in secret room at his privately-owned funeral home

Last week, the sheriff’s office said no single public official could remove him from office, based on current Colorado statutes.

In a press conference on Thursday, August 22, Governor Jared Polis said there needed to be reform.

“We can agree, it needs to be reformed after this, the way that you remove a coroner from office that is subject to criminal investigation, unable to do their job. Currently, there is a petition and recall process, costly, time-wise money-wise. There needs to be some way where, in conjunction with the commissioners, the state, the governor, can act when needed to make sure that you have continuity of services for a very basic function that people rely on, during life events,” stated Gov. Polis.

KRDO13 asked the governor where he is in that process. As of Thursday afternoon, his office is working on a response. 

“By the facts that have already been stated, why would someone still be in office?” questioned Peggy Gallegos.

Gallegos is one of hundreds of past Davis Mortuary customers wondering why Brian Cotter is still in his position, and if he’s getting paid. 

“There’s no vehicle by which to remove him or her from office,” Gallegos continued, “Perhaps, you know, our other elected officials can figure that out and determine what criteria needs to take place to actually have that removal happen. Because what if he never resigns?”

On Thursday, Pueblo County confirmed to KRDO13 that Cotter is still on the county payroll. Pueblo County annual salaries show that the county coroner is raking in $131,700 a year.

Pueblo County Commissioners renewed their calls for Cotter to resign in a Board of County Commissioners meeting Thursday.

KRDO13 knocked on Brian Cotter’s door Thursday to ask if he plans to resign. Cotter did not answer the door. We also reached out to his attorney. As of Thursday afternoon, we have yet to get a response.

From here, the recall petition will need to go through a vetting process to ensure it adheres to the law.

If everything checks out, the county says petitioners will have 60 days to collect valid signatures from registered Pueblo County voters. The number of signatures required varies, but in this case, the county says they will need 16,431 verified signatures.

If all the signatures are verified, Cotter does not resign, and the recall election goes through, the county tells KRDO13 the money would come from the county’s general budget.

Statement from Governor Polis:

“I continue to call on Mr. Cotter to do the right thing, save time and taxpayer money, and resign from the Pueblo County Coroner’s office. By refusing to take responsibility for his actions, Mr. Cotter is forcing Pueblo taxpayers to waste money on this recall and delaying families from mourning their loved ones. I look forward to conversations on how we can update our laws to prevent a lapse of services for residents when elected coroners cannot fulfill their duties.”

To read more on the recall process, click here.

To read all of our reports on this case, head here.

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