Lawsuit Claims Lies & Cover Up By Pueblo Police In Missing Woman Case
PUEBLO, Colo. (CBS4) - There are damaging new allegations in the case of a missing woman from Denver.
Kelsie Schelling disappeared two years ago and her family has long believed she was murdered. Now the family says the Pueblo Police Department is ignoring the crime and covering up in a federal lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Schelling's parents say Pueblo police lied and destroyed evidence that their pregnant daughter was murdered by her boyfriend, and police is doing nothing about it.
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"I don't believe they're doing anything right now. And honestly, I don't think they care," said Laura Saxton, Schelling's mother.
In the lawsuit Thursday, Schelling's parents claim detectives have "intentionally lied and falsified information about evidence." It also claims Schelling was "feloniously killed" by Donthe Lucas, who they say was the father of Schelling's unborn child.
On the night of Feb. 4, 2013, Schelling drove to a Walmart in Pueblo to meet Lucas. She hasn't been heard from or seen since. However, the lawsuit says surveillance video shows Lucas parking Schelling's car at the Walmart the following day after withdrawing $400 from an ATM with her bank card, and Schelling is nowhere to be seen.
"Why is that not enough to be more aggressive about this?" Saxton said.
The lawsuit claims Pueblo detectives questioned Lucas only once and have never called him a person of interest.
According to the lawsuit, private investigators discovered evidence in Schelling's car, including fingerprints and bodily fluids. Yet Pueblo detectives said "the car was wiped clean, no evidence was recovered." It goes on to say a detective "confessed that he had lied to Kelsie's family about evidence," adding that evidence had never been submitted to the crime lab.
The lawsuit also claims that human remains were allegedly snagged by a fisherman at a lake in Pueblo. Despite showing detectives where the remains were found, the lawsuit says "the lake has not been searched."
The lawsuit says the Pueblo District Attorney's Office has not seen any evidence presented to prosecutors.
CBS4 tried reaching out to Pueblo police for comment but their spokesperson was not available.
Schelling's family organized a march in downtown Pueblo on Saturday to make the public aware of the ongoing investigation.
