WEEK OF MARCH 13, 2025
VOLUME 12 | ISSUE 8
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Commissioners hand-pick members for library board
Douglas County deputies help solve kidnapping Louisiana family grateful to have Abdul ‘Aziz’ Khan found after seven-year mystery
BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A call to the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office to report a trespassing in a Highlands Ranch neighborhood resulted in the recovery of a child in a national kidnapping case. “This call not only led to the apprehension of two suspects, but — unknown to everyone at the time — to the discovery of a missing child and the resolution to a seven-yearold mystery,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly. Abdul “Aziz” Khan, now 14, was found safe and healthy after an effort to locate him that spanned seven years and involved multiple agencies across the U.S. He was found at a Highlands Ranch home, with a 40-year-old woman who authorities have identified as his mother, Rabia Khalid, 42-year-old Elliot Blake Bourgeois and another child. Aziz’s family in Louisiana are asking for privacy at this time, but provided the sheriff ’s office with a statement: “We are overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found. We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years. We specifically want to recognize the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office for their exceptional work in solving this case.” Since Aziz went missing seven years ago, his case gained national attention, including being featured on Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries.” In addition to the Louisiana Kenner Police Department’s involvement, the U.S. Marshals Service got involved in 2020 and traveled to 11 different states for search efforts. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a nonprofit corporation,
District of Colorado U.S. Marshal Kirk Taylor joins Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly and other elected officials at the Douglas County Courthouse in Castle Rock on March 5 to speak about the nation-wide effort to find a missing boy. PHOTO BY HALEY LENA
also worked with the family. “In family abduction cases, it can be difficult to garner public attention, but we knew that the national media coverage was crucial — Aziz could have been anywhere,” John Bischoff III, vice president missing children division of the NCMEC said in a statement. A call to Kelliwood Way
Just before 4 p.m. on Feb. 23, deputies with the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office were dispatched to a vacant home listed for sale on Kelliwood Way in Highlands Ranch after the homeowners saw two people enter the house on their security cameras. Deputies thought they were there to inves-
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tigate a trespassing and potential burglary in process, but when they arrived at the home, they found two children sitting in a vehicle parked in the driveway. The older child was identified as Aziz and the younger child’s identity is not being released at this time. “When the deputies contacted the (older) child in the driveway, the child immediately called the two people inside” the home, said Weekly. “We believe that the child was actually coached on what to say if they came into contact with law enforcement.” Bourgeois and Khalid later exited the home, claiming to be associated with a real estate agent.
The Douglas County commissioners altered a longtime appointment process for the Douglas County Libraries Board of Trustees when they hand-picked new members of the board, including a Castle Rock resident who advocated for the libraries to remove books with LGBTQ+ themes. At a Feb. 24 meeting, the three county commissioners unanimously appointed Amy Windju of Castle Rock and Pam Hampton of Parker to the library board. On March 4, the commissioners unanimously appointed Taylor Watson of Parker to the board. The appointments follow a December decision to disregard recommended appointments made by an interview panel drawn from the Partnership of Douglas County Governments, which included a current library board member and local government officials. SEE BOARD, P9
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