WEEK OF JANUARY 2, 2025
VOLUME 37 | ISSUE 01
$2
Get set for these Colorado laws to take effect in 2025 BY LONDON LYLE SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Detective Byron Kastilahn with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office cold case unit. PHOTO BY BELEN WARD
Cases coming out of the cold, thanks to DNA • Vestas to lay off 200 employees •27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
• Page 9
BUSINESS LOCAL
Weld detective helping families uncover what happened to loved ones BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
• Page 3
3 5 8 11
LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
One case that is always at the top of the mind for Weld County cold case Detective Byron Kastilahn is that of Nicole Silvers, a Longmont teen who disappeared 11 years ago in April. Silvers’ sister had dropped her off at her Longmont home at 3 a.m. on April 9, 2014, and that’s the last time she was seen. A roommate checked on her two days later and found all of her belongings gone. A missing juvenile report was made three days after that and local police, including Weld County, talked to her friends and family. Nothing suspicious has ever turned up, and Kastilahn said that bothers him. “This case doesn’t make any sense,” said Kastilahn. “Like most cases, it could be drug-related, or a spouse did it. I can’t
prove it. This one could be an abduction, or maybe she ran away, and then something happened. “It’s a strange one. In this case, I’d like to find out what happened,” he said. Kastilahn, who joined Weld County’s cold case unit in 2020, has many cases just like Silvers. But this year, he has had some remarkable successes using DNA testing to solve four long-standing, complex cases – one dating back to 1973. In June 2024, Weld County announced they had identified a man found in a field in Greeley on Valentine’s Day 2000. An autopsy of the human remains found no evidence of foul play, according to officials. Deputies labeled the man John Doe 2000, and the case went cold until 2023. That’s when DNA tests came back and were later confirmed to identify him as Christopher Scott Case, who had been missing since 1998.
BREIFS: 2 | OBITUARIES: 7 | CLASSIFIEDS: 9
In November, they used DNA to unravel what had happened to Kay Day. She had been murdered in 1979, found strangled in the back of her Datsun hatchback with the belt from her own coat. Investigators focused on her husband Chuck Day but could never settle the case. What happened to Kay Day – and to Chuck, as it turned out – would remain a mystery until 2021. A DNA test from the autopsy’s sexual assault kit turned up a match on the national DNA database belonging to James Herman Dye in Wichita, Kans. Dye had a history of sexual assaults and was a student at Aims Community College in 1979 who had attended classes in the building where Kay Day worked. When confronted by Kastilahn and the FBI, Dye confessed. SEE COLD CASES, P7
It’s a new year, new you, and there’s a litany of new laws to get used to stat, lest you suffer the consequences at the hands of the state. OK, that sounds dramatic, but seriously, there are a handful of new laws going into effect on Jan. 1, and unknowingly breaking them can make a dent in your wallet. But fear not; we have you covered. We’ve compiled a list of Colorado’s new laws that go into effect on Jan. 1 so you can focus on ringing in the new year right. Hands-Free Driving Law: Out of all the laws on this list, the hands-free driving law has probably received the most media coverage, thanks to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s awareness campaign on distracted driving crashes. All drivers must refrain from holding or touching their cell phones until parked. Violating this law results in a $75 fine and two license suspension points for a first offense. A hands-free accessory for your phone is a must, especially if you depend on Google Maps for your life. (Pro tip: Target sells some cheap ones.) Cage-free egg law: The government is “cracking” down on habitat standards for hens. Commercial farms with over 3,000 egg-laying hens must have one square foot of usable floor space per hen. As with any law, there are exceptions: the new regulations won’t apply to hens that are to be slaughtered or are being used for medical research purposes. Child seatbelt laws: Strap in, because this one gets a bit technical. Children must use car seats up until age nine, an increase from age eight. Babies must stay in a rear-facing car seat that is secured in the back seat of the vehicle until age two, an increase from the current age of one, or older if they are under 40 pounds. The law also says everyone in a vehicle has to wear a seatbelt until the age of 18, an increase from the age of 16. In other words, everyone under 18 must wear a seatbelt in the vehicle regardless of SEE LAWS, P5
COMMERCECITYSENTINEL.COM • A PUBLICATION OF COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA