Prosecutors with the 18th Judicial District will dismiss the
first degree murder case against accused killer Donald J. Cowell.
Cowell was charged for murder in Dec. 2003, for the death of
Kristen Titello, 40, of Aurora, whose body was found in Elbert
County in July 2003.
In a press release issued Oct. 1, Mike Knight, public
information officer for the 18th Judicial District, said
prosecutors cannot prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt against
Cowell. Cowell was scheduled to go to trial Nov. 15.
“A recent thorough review of the evidence and subsequent
investigation conducted by investigators from the district
attorney’s office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the
Elbert County Sheriff’s [office] has led this office to conclude
that there is not a reasonable likelihood of proving the charges
beyond a reasonable doubt at this time,” the release
says.
Cowell was arrested Dec. 12, 2003, after allegedly confessing to
the crime in the days before his arrest. The story emerged at a
preliminary hearing Jan. 21, during which investigators testified
that Cowell admitted to killing Titello.
In three interviews with Cowell, dating from Sept. 17, 2003, to
Dec. 11, 2003, Cowell at first denied knowing Titello, until
investigators produced cell phone records showing that she had
called his home number a few days before her body was found. His
story had many inconsistencies, investigators said, but the final
version ended with his confession that he killed her during the
course of an argument.
Cowell told investigators that he had met Titello a few years
ago, when he solicited her services for sex. He thought of himself
as a regular customer. The day before her body was found, he said
they met for a pre-arranged, routine encounter.
He took her to a motel in Strasburg, and afterwards took her to
dinner. They returned to the room, where he asked her to “leave the
streets” and start a new life with him. He said she refused, and
instead pulled a knife on him, demanding money.
They struggled, and during the course of the fight, she suffered
“a few” stab wounds, and collapsed on the floor. He said he checked
her pulse, and she was still alive. He then determined that he did
not want a living witness to the encounter, and told investigators
he stabbed her another four or five times where she laid on the
floor. The autopsy revealed that Titello suffered nine puncture
wounds to the neck and chest areas.
Cowell told investigators he then placed her body in the cab of
his truck and drove east to dispose of it. She was found the
morning of July 10, about a foot off of Colo. 86 and just west of
Interstate 70, in unincorporated Elbert County.
Cowell drove back to the hotel in Strasburg, throwing her
belongings and the murder weapon out the window as he went. He took
Titello’s car, a 1997 black Thunderbird, and abandoned it on a dirt
road about 45 minutes outside of Strasburg. Her car has not been
recovered.
A subsequent visit to the hotel room rendered no visible signs
of a murder scene, investigators said.
“The district attorney’s office has a different burden of proof
than law enforcement,” said Elbert County Sheriff William Frangis.
“Although I have not discussed the case with the district attorney,
I will not question any of their decisions.”
The district attorney’s office had mixed concerns about the
confession, Knight said.
“The problem we have with the confession was there were many
parts of it we were unable to corroborate, and in fact there were
parts of it that were downright false,” Knight said. “I can’t go
into any further details about that, point by point, since the case
remains open. Also, the defense had retained an expert who was
going to expand on false confessions and what motivates people to
make false confessions.”
Cowell was released on bond June 21, the day his original trial
was scheduled to begin in Elbert County District Court, after new
evidence surfaced on the eve of the trial.
“We had some brand new information come forward about an
alternate suspect who might have been involved in the murder,”
Knight said. “When we coupled that information along with the
concerns and issues about the confession, we have an obligation not
to take anything to trial when there’s not a reasonable expectation
to get a conviction”
There is an ethical obligation to refrain from going to trial
when the prosecution believes there exists insurmountable issues
which might cast doubt in the collective mind of the jury, Knight
said.
“The case will remain open and under investigation,” Knight
said.
Contact Rhonda Moore at rmoore@ccnewspapers.net.