Questions raised by retired Aurora detective stashing 30 boxes docs in a crawlspace

AURORA | A retired Aurora detective on the force for 41 years kept boxes of documents linked to 35 different police cases stashed under the floorboards of his home, police said. 

“What we found is a detective who spent a lot of time on these cases, felt that he had the right to take bits and pieces of these cases that he committed himself to and worked through, and for whatever reason,” Chief Todd Chamberlain said. “He wanted to retain these documents.”

Police did not name the detective, saying that the case was under investigation. They also did not cite which cases the detective kept materials for.

The stash came to light earlier this year while Aurora detectives were recently looking into a cold case from 1997, Chamberlain said. While reviewing the case, they realized they were unable to locate some specific information related to the investigation.

They decided to reach out to the retired detective who was involved in the investigation, and he said he still had some documents from the case at his home, Chamberlain said. The detective then brought in a bag with documents, VHS tapes, photos and other materials from the cold case to the police department. 

This concerned the detectives as they asked him about what other documents he might have, Chamberlain said. 

“They discovered that the retired detective was in possession of material that related to multiple homicide cases he had worked during his tenure as a major crimes homicide investigator,” Chamberlain said.  “Immediately, that caused a number of red flags. Our major crimes unit and our property and evidence responded out to the retired detective’s home.”

The detective consented to a search, and police were able to find 30 boxes “under the floorboards,” which was later confirmed to be in the crawl space under the detective’s home filled with binders, reports, photographs, VHS tapes, handwritten notes and other documents related to investigations in cases that he had worked during his tenure, Chamberlain said.

The detective began working for the police in 1981, worked in the major crimes unit from 1996 to 2011, and moved to district three investigations before he retired in 2022.  

“What we did not find in all of these boxes was any physical evidence,” Chamberlain said, referring to items like DNA samples or weapons used in crimes.

Chamberlain said they also have not found any information that police believe would have impacted specific cases, suspects or victims negatively. It was said to be all duplicates of information still at the police department.

“At this time, our detectives have found that there is no indication that the recovered case material compromised any prosecutions,” Chamberlain said. 

James Karbach, a spokesperson for the Office of Colorado State Public Defender, said Friday he didn’t hear about the situation until the Denver Post called him. He said that the discovery of the materials raises concerns that defendants in the past could have been unfairly prosecuted.

“It doesn’t seem like the public or any defendants have been given full information,” he said. “We don’t have any mechanism to even know what cases are implicated.”

If they found something in a closed case that was not disclosed to the defendants, hopefully they would notify the defendants, if they were convicted, and their former lawyers, although the legal rules around having to tell somebody after the case is closed, are not clear, so that would be up to the police department and district attorneys to do that.”

After finding the initial boxes, Chamberlain said the police applied for a search warrant through the Arapahoe County DA’s Office but were denied due to probable cause requirements. Weeks later, investigators conducted a consent search of the detective’s home, but found no additional items in the house or under the floorboards where they initially found the boxes.

The police department alerted city officials, legal counsel, internal operations, both police chiefs, detective personnel and they notified the 17th and 18th Judicial District Attorneys and the Aurora Consent Decree Monitor.

The 18th Judicial District spokesperson, Eric Ross, said prosecutors discovered 80 cases in Arapahoe County linked to the former detective’s files with the Aurora Police Department.

“We are actively reviewing these cases to ensure that all evidence was properly disclosed to defense counsel in accordance with our discovery obligations,” Ross said. “If we determine that any evidence was not appropriately disclosed, we will make the necessary notifications,” Ross said.

The 17th and 18th judicial districts both said they are conducting detailed reviews of the documents. The 17th Judicial District spokesperson, Christopher Hopper, said that they connected 11 cases from the documents found in possession of the detective and the 17th Judicial District, and they have been cross-referencing each file to confirm that all evidence has been properly preserved and disclosed during the prosecution of each case.

APD spokesperson Matthew Longshore-Wells said the 35 cases they named during the press conference went through some sort of adjudication. The rest of the cases, the 18th distinguished, involved single documents of cases, such as a jail transport log or a criminal history, or they involved cases where a plea deal was taken or it was dismissed. 

“The 18th said the’ve searched through some of their records, and it appears that some of the documents they found are actually in the court case, but ADP is just missing them from our digital database because the detective didn’t scan them in, or had the original even though it was part of the case filing itself,” Longshore-Wells said. 

The recovered materials were “immediately secured” in the police conference room, and both DA’s offices were given access to review the evidence. Detectives also cross-referenced every item against open and past investigations to ensure none of the information was pertinent, impactful or involved any type of conflict whatsoever, Chamberlain said. 

“Right now, there is nothing that indicates what he had is a standalone or a unique product or a unique piece of evidence,” Chamberlain said. “It is redundant material.”

The records the detective brought in on the cold case from 1997, which sparked the investigation, were originals that were never uploaded to the city’s digital platform.

“The Chief said, during the press conference, that it was poor case management, combined with the old-age paper system that we had, that led to the discrepancies,” Longshore-Wells said in an email. “We’ve since digitized and uploaded those documents and other information from those discovered boxes into our records management system.”

When asked if the records were considered stolen police property, Longshore-Wells said not so much. 

“I don’t necessarily think it’s theft as much as just bad case management,” Longshore-Wells said. “So he kept the originals and didn’t upload them into the case file. But again, none of it was physical evidence.”

Chamberlain said the detective was said to be nonchalant about collecting the material, and that he had “normalized the behavior,” possibly treating the documents as “trinkets,” and only realizing the situation was abnormal after he was confronted.

“Based upon what I heard from his performance, it wasn’t stellar,” Chamberlain said about his time as a detective. “It sounded like some people needed to have hard conversations with him that, unfortunately, were missed. It sounded like he had issues. This is just third-party information that I’m getting.”

Currently, the detective has not been charged with any crimes because there is no evidence of malice, tampering or wrongdoing, Chamberlain said. 

“I have had discussions with both the 17th and the 18th district attorney’s office; they are well aware that if this does rise to a level of a crime that they feel is able to be prosecuted, we will support that decision,” Chamberlain said. 

“If we find out there is tampering of evidence, if there is destruction of evidence, if there’s something that tainted a case, I will personally, and this department will, without question, step forward and hold that individual accountable in a criminal court of law,” Chamberlain said. 

Chamberlain said the incident was “unacceptable” and the department is implementing reforms, including upgrading the case management system from physical binders to a fully digitized platform, conducting both scheduled and random audits of case files and ensuring “a consistent and validated chain of continuity” for all evidence.

Chamberlain said he will continue the department’s transparency with the public.

“This is an active investigation,” he said. “As we learn more, we will continue to put out more information and more details related to this.”