Judge seals information about teen suspects in murder investigation

Little is known about the two teenage suspects arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into the death of a local 14-year-old following an altercation at Second Street Park in Gypsum on April 24.

Jackson Davis, a freshman at Eagle Valley High School, died from injuries sustained during the altercation, which involved several teenagers and occurred just before 10 p.m. The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Davis’ death as a homicide.

Authorities arrested a suspect on the evening of the altercation. On Saturday, May 4, they announced the arrest of another suspect, but information about the arrests and charges is under seal due to an April 30 order from 5th Judicial District Judge Rachel J. Olguin-Fresquez.

It also remains unclear whether either suspect will be charged as an adult. For juveniles charged with crimes, Colorado law requires the public to have access to information about the identity of the suspect, the arresting agency, and the date, time and location of the arrest. A provision also provides that criminal charges may be filed against juvenile suspects charged with murder with a deadly weapon.

However, Colorado law also gives judges the ability to hide information about court proceedings from the public. Olguin-Fresquez’s order, issued six days after the initial arrest, requires all records related to the case to be kept under seal for 21 days.

Support local journalism

Donate

Citing the ongoing investigation, Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek declined to say whether additional arrests would be made or to provide information about what led to the altercation in the park. District Attorney Heidi McCollum declined to answer questions about the two suspects and the charges against them, citing the judge’s suppression order.

What is clear is that both suspects are being held outside of Eagle County. Colorado has strict laws regarding the detention of minors, and there is no juvenile detention facility in the 5th Judicial District, which includes Clear Creek, Lake, Summit and Eagle counties.

School district response

Following the incident, the school district is working to ensure safety.

As students and staff returned from the district’s spring break on Monday, April 29, staff meetings were held at Red Canyon and Eagle Valley high schools. The tone and conversation was different at each school.

At Red Canyon, the conversation centered around school culture, Superintendent Philip Qualman said.

“As an alternative campus, they build their program around culture and make students feel like they belong and have a voice in what’s happening on their campus. So they started the day by addressing this culture and talking about how the children were feeling, what support they needed and how they want their school to move forward and heal from the incident,” he added.

The conversation at Eagle Valley was “very different” because the school community lost a student, Qualman said.

“They talked to staff about how to discuss this in their classrooms, what support was available to them as educators, what resources were available to their students and how to address their questions,” he said.

Currently, these resources include existing school counselors and clinicians from Your Hope Center, as well as additional counselors deployed to provide more support in schools. They also share information about support and resources available outside of schools.

Similar to the April 30 email to parents, schools are encouraging staff not to spread rumors.

“Rumors have spread across social media platforms, causing unfounded concerns and fears. Please do not continue to spread disturbing rumors and work with your children to ensure this happens,” a district FAQ states shared with families following the April 24 incident.

As students returned to school on Monday, April 29, a false claim of another knife attack was circulating. A juvenile has since been criminally charged with false reporting after an investigation by the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office found no credible information or evidence that the attack occurred.

On Tuesday, April 30, the district canceled a girls soccer game between Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley. Qualman said at the time that the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution after we were notified of an alleged incident last night.” ”

Qualman said in a phone call with the Vail Daily on Tuesday that decisions to cancel games will be made on a case-by-case basis and will use “any information we receive from law enforcement or any tips or Safe-2-Tell reports.” .”

“We take this information seriously and investigate it with due care and make the decision based on the information we have,” he added.

As rumors continue to circulate in schools and on social media, the district is working to create a district-wide cell phone policy. Currently, all schools have their own cell phone policies.

“As a result of this recent incident, we are working on a district-wide policy regarding cell phone use. And this policy will not only describe fair use, but also define inappropriate use,” Qualman said.

A draft of the policy will be reviewed by school leaders in the coming weeks before being presented to the Education Committee for approval.

The district currently monitors student internet usage in its buildings through a system called Go Guardian, which allows it to monitor search content and web pages accessed by students. Qualman, however, called this a “never-ending game of cat and mouse.”

He also noted that while he respects and understands staff and community members’ desire for more details, “when minors are involved, we are required by law to keep that information confidential from those students and their families.”

“We share what we can share, and when we can’t share anymore – either because we don’t have it or because we’re not allowed to share it – that’s just a situation where people have to learn to cope.” “, he added.

The county is working with both the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office on the homicide investigation.

Security upgrades were already in the works

The Eagle County School District has recently put efforts and resources into improving school safety.

In fall 2023, the district engaged a third party to conduct a security and emergency preparedness assessment to review its policies, procedures and facilities and to assess the overall security of all of its schools. Based on that report’s recommendations, the company hired Tad Degen, a former school resource officer and retired Eagle County law enforcement officer, to fill the newly created role of security director.

The bond passed in November 2023 gave Degen $5 million for safety improvements throughout the district.

Would you like the news to come to you? Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: VailDaily.com/newsletter

Qualman acknowledged that considering school safety includes not only looking at things like cameras, infrastructure and cell phone or social media use, but also the development of school culture.

“It’s about what does it feel like to be in school? Do we connect with children? Do they feel like they belong? Are they engaged? “What are we doing to make sure we’re leveraging all the support we have in this community, inside and outside of our schools?” Qualman said.

The next step in healing from this tragedy is ensuring schools are safe and secure and coming together to heal as a community, he added.