A man protecting his wife from a masked robber during a home invasion in the hills west of Boulder wrestled a knife from the attacker and fatally stabbed the man late Monday night, authorities say.
The intruder, whose identity has not been released, tried to rob the homeowners using a simulated gun, said Lt. Phil West, spokesman for the Boulder Sheriff’s Office.
The residence is hidden behind pine trees down a dirt lane. Becci Starr, 59, answered the doorbell at 10:25 p.m. and was confronted by a man wearing a mask who pointed a simulated handgun at her. It is unclear whether the man demanded money.
“I heard very hysterical screaming,” said Dale Hursh, who lives next door to Star and her husband Scott Mattes, 56. “She was obviously very scared.”
Haun called 911. He said it was very dark on the hillside because there was a new moon. Starr, who owns a video recording company, fended the robber off with a bat, West said.
The man dropped the simulated gun and pulled out a knife, he said.
Mattes heard his wife yelling and ran to her side, tackling the man at the doorstep, according to West.
“It was a very violent fight,” Hursh said.
Mattes wrestled a knife from him and stabbed him with it, West said. Meanwhile his wife was bludgeoning the robber with a bat.
“There was some uncertainty of what they should do,” Hursh said.
Mattes was asking his wife whether he should hurt the man some more or not, he said.
But the fight quickly turned into a rescue effort.
Hursh heard Mattes yelling, “Breath! Breath! Breath! Try to breath!”
He said he called down to his friend who had sold him property for his home 12 years earlier.
“‘Get somebody up here now. The guy is very seriously hurt,”‘ Hursh said his friend yelled.
Mattes had minor injuries and was taken to Boulder Community Hospital He was treated and released.
The robber was a white man in his late 20s, West said. The Boulder County Coroner’s Office was performing an autopsy.
The home invasion rattled the residents in upscale homes tucked among pines in the hills above Boulder.
“Oh, my goodness gracious,” said Norman Haun, a neighbor. “I never thought than anybody would take it upon themselves to come up here.”
Hursh said one of the reasons people live outside of the city is because they feel safer. A year ago a few homes of people who left their doors open were burglarized. People learned to lock their doors.
Ray Johson, 72, said in recent years Sunshine Canyon Road has become increasingly busy with bike and car traffic.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
Previous Colorado “Make My Day” incidents.
September 2005: A drunken Longmont teenager, Nathan Weathers, 19, was shot and seriously wounded after entering a neighbor’s home through a rear window.
November 2003: Eric Griffin, 33, of Ault shot and killed his neighbor, Richard Hammock, who came to Griffin’s door wielding a 2 x 2 piece of wood, in a dispute that began with a barking dog.
June 2003: An intruder was shot and killed by a 25-year-old Aurora resident.
June 2001: James Tracy, 73, of Boulder shot at a drunken neighbor who accidentally walked into his home. Tracy pulled a .357-caliber pistol from a nightstand and shot 50-year-old Richard Schwartz. Schwartz then jumped on the bed, grabbed the gun and shot Tracy.
January 2001: Aaron Mandel, 21, shot and killed William Wainer after Wainer entered his small cabin in Guffey and threatened him.
November 2000: A 72-year-old Colorado Springs woman wounded an intruder with a .38-caliber revolver after he broke in through the back door. The intruder was convicted of breaking into the homes of three other women, beating them and raping them.
October 1999: Alyson Renee Norman of Denver shot and critically injured one of two men who apparently tried to kick in her front door and then fired shots into her apartment.
December 1996: Lance Fehr, 50, of Lakewood shot and killed 38-year-old Anthony Gutierrez who knocked on his trailer door and assaulted him.
April 1996: Denise Cline, 31, shot and killed an acquaintance, Stone Farris because he broke into her Eastlake home and was beating her roommate.
February 1996: A 72-year-old Fort Collins man shot and seriously wounded an intruder attempting to break into his house Thursday, police said. No charges filed.
June 1995: Marlon Servantez, 32, of Grand Junction stabbed and killed James Meek, after Meek entered Servantez’s apartment and tried to choke him. Servantez picked up a kitchen knife and stabbed Meeks, 25, five times.
June 1995: Gene O’Neil, a Capitol Hill homeowner awoke to find a stranger at the foot of his bed. O’Neil shot the intruder dead.
September 1994: Lyle Wills, 54, shot and killed an intruder in his Evans home.
April 1994: Robert Dick, 39, was killed after he broke into a Colorado Springs home and confronted a man dating his estranged wife, Debra Dick, 26.
Compiled by Barbara Hudson of The Denver Post Research Library.
