Category: krdo-local-news

Mackenzie Stafford

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – 35-year-old Jacob Martinez was run over by a suspect on July 24, police said.

On the day of the incident, security footage showed Martinez getting out of his car, standing in the road, only for the other car to run him over and drive off. Martinez died at the hospital three days later, police said.

On Wednesday, KRDO13 spoke with a friend of Martinez who said he was the most caring, compassionate individual.

“Jacob was very hyper, and I do well with hyper people. He was my roommate off and on. And, he cared a lot. He was a very caring person. He liked to clean. He would always come and clean the house first thing in the morning. I could clean it at night, but he was going to clean it again in the morning. He always had to make my bed, get me up, and make sure I stayed up for the day because I tend to lie back down after having a heart attack,” explained Carol Hubbard.

Carol Hubbard tells KRDO13 that Jacob Martinez was her best friend.

“I could always depend on Jacob to be there for me,” shared Hubbard, “When I had my heart attack, he came to the hospital, told me he’d take better care of myself because he couldn’t lose me. And now I’ve lost him.”

She says he had spent the night at her home the day before.

“He had borrowed the…car that he had the day he got hit, and he came down. He stayed the night. He got up twice in the middle of the night to check on the car,” explained Hubbard.

Hubbard says he likely got out of the car to ask the other driver to back up since he was so protective of his friend’s car, which he was borrowing. She says that when the accident happened, he was on his way to her home.

“I had just talked to him and texted 30 minutes before this happened. So, I don’t know…I didn’t hear from him for days. And my daughter-in-law was like, ‘Have you heard from Jacob? Usually, he’s here,” shared Hubbard.

She says these past few weeks without him have been incredibly hard.

“I keep looking at the door, waiting for Jacob to come back through the door, and I know he’s never going to come back. It’s been hard,” said Hubbard.

A photo of the victim, 35-year-old Jacob Martinez, provided by family and distributed by CSPD.

A funeral will be held to honor the life of Jacob Martinez on Thursday.

“I know tomorrow’s supposed to be the final goodbye and everything for him. I just don’t. I don’t want to say goodbye,” said Hubbard, “He was only 35.”

Hubbard shared that she had known Martinez for 7 years. She says that at the start of their friendship, they’d stay up late into the wee hours of the morning with Martinez making her laugh the whole time.

“He’d just brighten the day. I close the curtains at night and stuff. He comes in and ties them up, moves them over. Whatever needed to be done. You know, he’d open the windows. It’d be zero out. He’s opening the windows to get fresh air in. We had to have fresh air let in every day…he’d open the windows and let the sunshine in. That was Jacob. He had to. And that was his way of, you know, brightening everybody’s day,” explained Hubbard.

The family of Martinez has asked for privacy during this time of grieving.

RELATED: Victim identified, suspect arrested in suspected Colorado Springs road rage homicide

Daniel Nations, the man accused of hitting and killing Martinez, is being held in the El Paso County jail without bond.

Carol Hubbard hopes Nations gets sentenced to life in prison to find justice for her friend Jacob Martinez. 

Nations will be back in court on October 8, 2025.

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Celeste Springer

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) –The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) confirms they are conducting operations in El Paso County.

KRDO13 crews sent to the scenes witnessed agents at El Ranchito #2, located off Maizeland Road, as well as El Ranchito off Airport Road.

A spokesperson with the DEA made it clear that this is not an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operation. They say the operation is in coordination with Homeland Security Investigations.

However, an ICE spokesperson later said that their ERO division is on scene. They say that the FBI and IRS are also there.

KRDO13 is reaching out for further clarification on ICE’s capacity in this operation.

Details are limited at this time, but this article may be updated.

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Celeste Springer

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The Baca County Sheriff’s Office says more than $120,000 worth of stolen items were found in rural El Paso County.

According to the Baca County Sheriff’s Office, they received a string of reports about stolen items. On Aug. 10, 2025, the sheriff’s office says a 24 foot trailer was reported stolen. The next morning, a skid loader was reported stolen from a construction site. The day after that, they received a report of a stolen pickup, which they believe was also stolen on Aug. 10, the sheriff’s office says.

Baca County deputies followed leads, and eventually they traced the items to El Paso County. The Baca County Sheriff’s Office says the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office was able to see some of the stolen items from the roadway. The information allowed them to get a search warrant.

Photo: David Walker

The warrant was executed early on Wednesday, and the sheriff’s office says they were able to recover the items. However, they do not have any suspects behind bars, as the department says the property was abandoned.

If you have any information about these thefts, the sheriff’s office asks that you contact them at 719-523-4511.

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Celeste Springer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A Colorado hot air balloon company says it will be offering wheelchair accessible flights at this year’s Labor Day Lift Off.

The annual hot air balloon festival falls on Aug. 30 and 31 this year in Colorado Springs. Rainbow Ryders says they will also offer additional accessible flights before the event on Aug. 29. They say it’s their third year having the option available.

“As leaders in the ballooning industry, we truly believe these magical flights should be experienced by everyone,” says Lindsay Mayer, director of operations at Rainbow Ryders, in a press release. “This new accessible option is one more way we’re helping more people take flight and make unforgettable memories at Labor Day Lift Off.”

Staff with Rainbow Ryders say they expect to take flight alongside roughly 70 other balloons this year. Down below, there will be vendors, music, and contests.

For more information and tickets, click here.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — City officials and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have different perspectives on why safety projects at two District 60 schools didn’t happen this summer, as scheduled.

The projects are funded by CDOT “Safe Routes to School” grants.

A CDOT spokesperson recently told KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior: “There is no hold-up on the funding on CDOT’s part. Every one of our projects needs to go through a pre-construction phase that includes environmental, utility, and right-of-way clearance. Until the city goes through this clearance process, we cannot move forward with construction. The design consultant and the City of Pueblo set the schedule for these clearance processes.”  

Chuck Roy, the city’s acting public works director, sees the matter differently.

“I believe everything has been done to get us to the point that CDOT just needs to issue the notice to proceed,” he said. “We expect it to happen soon. But even if we got clearance now, it’s too late to start construction with schools reopening next week. There are some disappointments for sure, but we’ll have to wait until next summer.”

The projects will happen at Haaff Elementary and Park View Elementary schools, and are designed to make walking and biking easier and safer for students.

At Haaff, for example, the grant will provide $370,000 for wider, “high-visibility” sidewalks so that drivers can see pedestrians more easily; another goal is to install new curbs and ramps that meet federal standards for the disabled.

Included in the project at Park View is the installation of flexible barriers to separate bike lanes from traffic.

A third school, the Risley School of Exploration — a middle school slightly south of Park View — will also receive program funding for a project at a later date.

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Rob Namnoum

It’s year two at Vista Ridge for Matt Wibbels, “You know your kids names. Everything’s easier year to you. Just get to know each other and you just go, all right,” says Wibbels.

Vista Ridge slot back Aidan Vanaman adds, “You know, I like how Wibbs, He just understands, you know, every play. He listens to us.”

Coach Wibbs says if you listen closely, his team has more of a bark, “This year. We played a lot of puppies last year on defense, and they’ve all grown up a little bit. They’ve all got in the weight room. Their teeth have gotten a little bit sharper and we’re looking to go hunting this year,” says Wibbels.

Vista Ridge safety, Jacob Bourland adds, “We gain experience and knowledge. Our boys know. We know what we’re going against now. You know, we’re not little puppies no more. We’re big dogs.”

The puppies aren’t wetting in the floor anymore, “Yeah, exactly. When you play Pueblo West and Columbine and PR (Palmer Ridge) man, you’re going to get physical football. Last year, we were pretty young and sometimes 17 versus 15 years old gets you a little bit,” says Wibbels.

Bourland adds, “Our coaches come out here and they they tell us like, yeah, I mean, just because you’re young, you’re puppies, you know, you could still hang with the big dogs.”

The Wolves can’t wait to get their paws on the big dogs of Colorado high school football this year,

“We’re coming out with a different energy. This year we’re coming out this year and we’re gonna do it,” says Vanaman.

“This team’s hungry. We want to go against someone else. We don’t care if it’s five. We don’t care if their previous state champs. They’re going to get it. They’re going to get a different VR,” says Bourland.

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Mackenzie Stafford

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Eight calls to dispatch in a matter of hours have landed Pueblo City Councilman Joe Latino in the hot seat.

Audio recording of the calls obtained by KRDO13 show that Councilman Latino called about homeless people, though the issues varied across several locations in Pueblo. Call logs also show that he was asked to call the non-emergency line, and while he did at some points, he reverted to calling 911 later in the evening.

You can listen to the full calls below. Please note, these are unedited and some contain profanity.

What were the calls about?

911 call placed at 4:54 p.m.

In his first call to 911, Councilman Latino reported a group of homeless people who had moved into a vacant property.

“We got some homeless f*cks that moved in with their trailer in the back of a vacant house here,” Councilmember Latino told dispatch. “I want them out of there.”

911 call placed at 4:57 p.m.

According to the timestamps provided to KRDO13, he calls back to 911 just three minutes later, and tells the dispatcher he “wants a report back as to what’s been done.” At this time, the dispatcher asks him to call the non-emergency line.

911 call placed at 5:12 p.m.

In his third call to 911, he tells the dispatcher that he doesn’t have an emergency, but is calling to follow up and asks to talk to a supervisor.

“We’ve had quite a busy day, but I will definitely go ahead and pass the message along to my supervisor and have them reach you as soon as we can,” the dispatcher says.

Call to non-emergency line placed at 5:19 p.m.

A few minutes after the third call, he placed a fourth call to dispatch, this time reportedly under the non-emergency line. He tells the dispatcher that homeless people are lining Sante Fe Avenue, and police need to come out to enforce the Sit-Lie Ordinance.

Call to non-emergency line placed at 8:10 p.m.

About three hours later, call logs show he calls the non-emergency line to ask for a supervisor again.

911 call placed at 11:32 p.m.

According to call logs, a few hours after that, Councilmember Latino reverted to calling 911 again. This time, he reported that homeless people were bothering people outside a Loaf ‘n Jug.

911 call placed at 11:37 p.m.

In his seventh call of the evening, he calls 911 once again about the homeless people at the Loaf ‘n Jug.

“I just called about 5 minutes ago, and I seen three police officers– they were standing around bull sh****** up on the northside there,” he said. “[The homeless people are not] supposed to be on the streets anymore. They just moved, so you don’t have to worry about them now ‘cus I got them out of here. But you need to send an officer down here to check on things,” he later added.

Call to non-emergency line placed at 1:48 a.m.

His final and eighth call comes in at 1:48 a.m., according to call logs. It’s about nine hours after his first call. This call is back to the non-emergency line. He expresses frustration with how things went throughout the evening, and the lack of police dispatched to the locations he called from.

“I will be dealing with the chief [of police] myself as it relates to the nonsense that goes on,” he said. “I apologize to you because you’re just doing your job,” he later said to the dispatcher.

In the council meeting, Councilman Latino said that he’s been frustrated with the police department and has been seeing some of the issues on the streets firsthand.

“I used to be able to walk down the streets, the damn streets, at 6 or 7 o’clock at night after football. We can’t do that anymore. It breaks my heart,” said Councilmember Latino.

But Pueblo Police Chief Noeller says dispatch is already inundated, fielding hundreds– sometimes thousands– of calls a day.

“When people repeatedly call 911 over issues that don’t rise to the level of being a 911 call, it impacts our ability to get people to the calls where we actually have an incident where somebody’s in danger,” said Chief Noeller.

Pueblo Police want the public to know they are able to call the non-emergency line for non-life-threatening emergencies and non-active incidents. The Pueblo Police non-emergency line is 719-553-2502.

Larger conflict in city council

The calls were the topic of an explosive city council meeting in Pueblo on Monday, but it’s just the latest episode of a feud between the mayor and the city council.

Mayor Heather Graham called out Councilmember Latino, saying that she’s asked him multiple times to stop calling 911 and tying up emergency lines.

“When you have a city councilor calling 911 and tying up the line at 11:30 at night, there’s, there’s just more serious cases that we should be responding to at that point,” said Mayor Graham.

But Councilmember Latino hasn’t been part of Graham’s fan club either. The councilmember told KRDO13 on Tuesday that he led the most recent push to remove her from office.

“It needs to go back to the city manager. I was instrumental in helping with that organization for that because I thought we needed somebody to stand front and center. But basically, it’s not been very good; the results have not been good. So I’m going to support going back to the city manager, city council form a government, you know, and other things that have gone on that have pushed me in that direction,” shared Councilman Latino.

Now, he’s pushing for the City of Pueblo to reinstate a City Manager-led form of government, getting rid of the mayor’s position.

On Monday night, an ordinance passed that will allow voters to decide if they will change part of the City’s Charter. Now, a question will be added to the ballot to see if voters would like to change the form of government from Mayor to City Manager.

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Celeste Springer

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) says remains were found in an attic, and they believe they are those of a man missing since December.

EPSO says that on Monday, they were called out to a home in the 4300 block of McGrew Circle. Contractors were conducting a mold inspection at the property and located the body, deputies said.

Deputies learned that a missing man, 41-year-old Rueben Matthews, had previously been connected to the address. Matthews was reportedly last seen leaving the area of the home on Dec. 14, 2024.

“Despite several searches of the surrounding area, including an extensive area search with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Unit, as well as several locations Mr. Matthews was known to frequent, deputies were unable to locate Mr. Matthews,” read a release from the sheriff’s office.

EPSO says they do not believe there was foul play involved in this case.

While the remains have tentatively been tied to Matthews, the coroner’s office will still need to make a positive identification and determine his cause of death.

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Celeste Springer

STATEWIDE, Colo. (KRDO) — A Perseid meteor shower will light up the sky for people across Colorado tonight into tomorrow morning. The spectacular sighting is a favorite among those in the Northern Hemisphere, as Perseids can be seen shooting across the sky at rates as high as 50 to 100 meteors per hour, according to NASA.

What are Perseids?

The shower peaks each year around mid-August, and according to NASA, it’s the most popular meteor shower of the year. They can be seen around the same time each year because they are the result of Earth passing through debris trails that were left behind by comets making their way around the sun.

When can I see them?

Nationwide, the peak time to view Perseids will be the evening of Aug. 12 into the morning of Aug. 13. While peak viewing time begins around midnight, when the sky is dark, it might be possible to see them as early as 10 p.m.

The best time to view Perseids in Southern Colorado this year is 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13.

Southern Colorado is expecting some cloud cover at 10 p.m. Tuesday night, particularly in Pueblo and Las Animas Counties, but as we approach later hours, the sky will begin to clear up.

Viewing tips

Try to look away from the moon so your eyes can adjust for the best view. Light pollution is the biggest hurdle for viewing showers. It’s always best to try to get away from an area of town with a lot of lights. At best, try to look at the darkest part of the sky. Remember to be patient; your eyes will need time to adjust, and it may take time to start seeing showers.

Meteorologist Chevy Chevalier’s “Science is Cool” Trivia

So, how big are the meteoroids associated with a meteor shower?

A.) A grain of sand

B.) A golf ball

C.) A beach ball

D.) A small SUV

Meteoroids (i.e., the stream of debris released from a comet or asteroid) are usually as small as a grain of sand. Despite that, Perseids can still appear pretty bright!

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — As the fall semester begins for schools across the state, drivers must adjust to a new law that places another restriction on passing school buses that are loading or unloading students.

The law became effective in late May, after the spring semester for most schools.

Under the law, drivers approaching a school bus from the opposite direction can no longer pass a bus that has its flashing lights on and its stop arm deployed, on a street that has painted lines or a painted median separating directions of traffic.

In other words, those drivers may continue only if there is a raised median or other physical barrier between directions of traffic.

It may seem surprising that Colorado didn’t already have such a law in place, but recent statistics have led lawmakers to increase their focus on safety.

Rep. Amy Paschal, D-El Paso County, was one of three co-sponsors of the legislation.

While on a ride-along with Academy District 20 to prepare for students returning to school this week, KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior saw an approaching driver on a neighborhood street fail to stop for a bus that had its lights flashing and stop arm deployed.

According to statistics from the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), there have been five crashes over the past five years involving drivers who failed to stop for school buses while picking up or dropping off students; one of the crashes resulted in an injury, while the others resulted in property damage.

The CSP also said that troopers cited 15 drivers for failing to stop for school buses with flashing lights last year, and nine more drivers were cited from January through May of this year.

And all of that doesn’t count the number of violations that law enforcement officers don’t see.

“We do a survey every year in Colorado,” said Joey Eisenhut, director of transportation for Academy District 20, in Colorado Springs. “Last year, we did our survey on the 30th of April. And statewide, there were about 350 stop arm violations. And what that means is a car passed a bus when its stop arm was out. In Colorado Springs Academy District 20 on the 30th of April last year, which was the day that we did our count, we had 24 alone on one day in Academy District 20.”

However, many school buses are equipped with cameras that can record violators and identify vehicles; that video can be turned over to law enforcement for further investigation.

If you are cited, penalties can be stiff.

“It is a summons to court and six points towards your license,” said Trooper Hunter Mathews. “Past that, you’ll show up to talk to the judge and determine what your actual penalty is. It could be a monetary fine. It could be community service. It all depends on the circumstances surrounding why you got that ticket.”

When Drivers Should Stop for a Stopped School Bus

Drivers must stop at least 20 feet before reaching a school bus that is stopped with its red lights flashing, whether it is on your side of the road, the opposite side of the road or at an intersection.

You are not required to stop if the school bus with its red lights flashing is on a roadway opposite you that is separated by a raised or depressed median or other physical barrier.

You must remain stopped until the flashing red lights are no longer operating.

Use caution after the school bus begins to move, as there will be children crossing or near the roadway. Wait and watch before proceeding.

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