WEEK OF MARCH 13, 2025
VOLUME 24 | ISSUE 2
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Commissioners hand-pick members for library board One appointee supported book removals twice in 2023 BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
District of Colorado U.S. Marshal Kirk Taylor, left, joins Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly and other elected officials at the Douglas County Courthouse PHOTO BY HALEY LENA in Castle Rock on March 5 to speak about the nationwide effort to find a missing boy.
Douglas County deputies help solve kidnapping Louisiana family grateful that Abdul ‘Aziz’ Khan has been found after seven-year mystery 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 & Ex-
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ploited Children, a nonprofit corporation, 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 invesSEE KIDNAPPING, P5
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. The interview panel recommended Rick LaPointe, Meghann Silverthornn and Joe Kopacz be appointed to the library board. LaPointe and Silverthornn were seeking reappointment to the board. The Library Board of Trustees declined to comment on the change to the appointment process. Commissioners George Teal and Abe Laydon directed staff SEE BOARD, P4
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