The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office released the identity of a man who died from a gunshot wound Sunday in the Cotopaxi area.
Undersheriff Megan Richards said the body of Jonathon Kern, 27, of Cotopaxi, was found in a driveway in the vicinity of 30th Trail and K Path late Saturday night.
She said the investigation remains active while investigators conduct interviews and follow leads.
In the press release Sunday, officials stated they believe the shooting was an isolated incident, and there is no threat to the public.
“We are still saying there is no threat to the public,” Richards said during a media briefing Wednesday.
This is the fifth homicide investigation for the sheriff’s office in the past year.
The body of Jerry Thomas Hoglan, 53, of Cotopaxi, was found along the river in the Texas Creek area November 2017.
The body of local artist John Allen Alderman, 57, was found Feb. 20 in Penrose.
Kenneth Orchard, 77, was found dead May 22 in a house fire on Pinion Avenue.
The body of Loa Kennedy, 74, of Cañon City, was found in the Chinook Drive area June 24.
“At this point, we are not connecting these as related to each other at all,” Richards said. “They are all homicides, but there are no connecting dots to collect these all together to one source.”
Detective Mike Jolliffe said this is the most homicides he has seen in his 17 years with the FCSO.
“We generally have one, maybe two homicides a year,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this; this is unprecedented.”
The FCSO investigations unit currently is fully staffed, Richards said, with five working full time and one working part time. However, Interim Sheriff Ty Martin said it’s easy to prove the need for increased money and resources for staff.
All of the homicide investigations are active, Richards said, and all are awaiting forensic results.
“It’s not a 30-minute process like you see on TV,” she said. “Sometimes it takes months — six months to a year that we are waiting on results. We have this many active homicide investigations, and the CBI does test results for a bunch of different agencies, and they are busy, as well.”
Martin said based on the type of lab results, it could be a year and a half to two years to receive test results.
“That could be a critical piece of evidence that we can’t continue on with a case until we have that,” he said. “That definitely makes it difficult.”
But the costs of outside lab resources are incredibly expensive, he said, sometimes to the tune of $50,000 for one test.
“That’s not possible for us to do,” Martin said. “We have to rely on our local resources, state resources, and the CBI — they are a huge, valuable partner, but we have that delay sometimes.”
In a separate case, a structure fire Sept. 3 in the 1300 block of 34th Trail in Cotopaxi also remains under investigation.
Jolliffe said the fire was so severe that it consumed everything inside the house, and the arson investigator from CBI was unable to determine the cause and origin of the fire.
The home was a total loss and two bodies and a dog were found deceased. He said there is no evidence that the victims were shot. Officials are awaiting test results before they can identify the victims.
Carie Canterbury: 719-276-7643, canterburyc@canoncitydailyrecord.com