A woman accused of stabbing her toddler granddaughter to death had twice started fires in her apartment, chased people with knives and screwdrivers, smashed every window in her apartment and sat on a stool in the middle of a street with traffic on both sides, according to former neighbors.
In the months before Carol Pappas came to live with her son, her daughter-in-law and her granddaughter in Aurora, police repeatedly answered calls to her apartment in Colorado Springs, according to police records and several former neighbors.
“Everybody thought she should go to a hospital,” said Carlos Spencer, who lived in the Timbers Apartments, across from where Pappas lived until she was evicted this past summer. “What amazes me is she would call the police on herself and she would be back (in the apartment) the same day.”
Pappas is being held in the Arapahoe County Detention Facility for investigation of first-degree murder in the Saturday stabbing death of 21-month-old Madison Pappas.
Several people in the Timbers Apartments, 2830 Airport Road, said they knew enough about Pappas in the first days she moved into the complex in May that they would lock their doors when she was out of her apartment and restrict their kids from playing outside.
They said they were surprised to learn the family of the woman would leave her in charge of an infant granddaughter.
Aurora police said they could not comment after Judge William Sylvester imposed a gag order in the case and sealed all documents.
Pappas’ attorney, James O’Connor, said he could not comment on anything because of the gag order.
Police responded to a dozen medical, disturbance and suspicious-activity calls to Pappas’ apartment in May and June, said police spokesman Rafael Cintron.
They answered three calls May 9, starting with a 1:35 a.m. disturbance call, Cintron said. At 2:44 a.m. they returned to do a welfare check, and six minutes after that they answered a medical call, he said.
Cintron said police can only hold someone if they are accused of a crime. Menacing people with weapons and arson are crimes, but it is unclear based on records he received Tuesday whether those incidents were reported, he said.
“Our officers are not trained to evaluate someone’s mental-health status,” he said.
In 1990, Pappas was convicted in Colorado Springs of two felony-theft counts, according to court records.
Her unusual behavior in May and June was quickly recognized by neighbors when she moved into the apartment, they said.
At one point, she was playfully chasing small children with a squirt gun, neighbor Lisa Spencer said. On another occasion, Pappas allegedly threatened kids in a grocery store with a screwdriver, Spencer said.
Richard Naranjo said Pappas broke his apartment window. Also, the day after he refused to open his door when she pounded on it, his car was vandalized, he said.
Carlos Spencer said he went into Pappas’ house after she set fire to papers in her closet. On another occasion, she set toilet paper on fire on her stove, neighbors said.
But she caused the most damage to the apartments when she stuffed her toilet with paper and let it flood the vacant apartment below her for three days, neighbors said.
Mike Maestas said Pappas would stand on her balcony and throw her clothing, kitchen utensils, a radio and a toaster on her roof in anger. One minute she would be contentedly speaking to herself; the next she would slam a door, he said.
Naranjo said he saw her sitting on a stool in the middle of a city street near the apartments, with traffic passing on both sides.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
