Au pair charged with killing ex-girlfriend
A 22-year-old au pair from the Czech Republic was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the death of his former girlfriend, Ana Elisa Toledo of Brazil.
Martin Novotny is accused of going to a home in the 2500 block of Cook Street in Denver where Toledo lived and worked as a nanny, and killing her Tuesday morning. Novotny called police later from the Pepsi Center and told them he had killed his girlfriend.
Novotny told detectives he went to the home with a knife and got in through a basement window. When Toledo, 24, woke up, Novotny stabbed her, police said in court documents. He then covered her face with a pillow when she started screaming and kept stabbing her, the documents said.
Novotny is being held in the Denver County Jail without bond.
Burglars hit complex where boiler burst
Two apartments have been broken into and burglarized at a Westminster complex evacuated last week after a boiler exploded.
The units are at Terrace Garden Apartments, in the 7100 block of Hooker Street.
The boiler exploded there Tuesday as the result of natural-gas buildup in the boiler room while two workers were doing repair work.
About seven families were displaced by the blast.
Westminster police spokeswoman Stephanie Topkoff said two apartments were broken into late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The burglar or burglars stole jewelry from one apartment, and in another took an item Topkoff would not disclose.
Grinches steal kettle from Salvation Army
Cheyenne – Someone made off with a Salvation Army red kettle, stealing as estimated $200 to $300 in cash donations.
The theft happened around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at a grocery store.
A bell ringer was at his post inside near a door when someone grabbed the kettle off the chain, said Capt. Tom Fenton of The Salvation Army.
The suspect got into a car whose driver was waiting outside the entrance, and the car sped off, Fenton said.
The bell ringer wasn’t hurt, but was left discouraged and shaken up a bit, Fenton said.
The annual kettle drive is a primary source of income for The Salvation Army and helps local people with food, clothing and some rent costs. The donations also support The Salvation Army’s homeless-feeding program and its emergency canteen.
“What in the world were they thinking?” Fenton said of the thieves. “They stole somebody’s food box.”
Theft counts dropped against bookkeeper
Glenwood Springs – Prosecutors have dropped charges against a bookkeeper accused of stealing $10,000 from the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Donna Lynn Matthews, 47, was charged with two counts of theft for allegedly siphoning money from bar receipts and club dues that she was responsible for depositing in the bank.
Deputy District Attorney Scott Turner last week said a prosecution witness gave conflicting accounts of who made bank deposits. He originally said only Matthews did, but then he said other people also made deposits.
“Based on my review of this unexpected testimony, I no longer felt I could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Turner said. “It was my ethical duty to dismiss the case.”
Chip McCrory, attorney for Matthews, said the Eagles’ accounting methods were flawed.
“Their paper trail was horrible,” he said.
Four-star general to retire April 1
Peterson AFB – Lance Lord, the Air Force’s longest-serving four-star general on active duty, will retire as commander of Air Force Space Command on April 1, the command announced Friday.
Lord, who served four years on a Minuteman II ICBM combat crew shortly after joining the Air Force in 1969, has overseen the combat readiness of the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile force since April 2002.
He also oversees a global network of satellites, communications and missile warning and launch facilities and is in charge of more than 39,700 people who support the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Strategic Command.
Lord’s successor has not been named.
