Without a body, authorities already were going to have a difficult time getting a conviction in the homicide case of Aaroné Thompson.
Now, without one of the two central figures in the investigation, experts say it may be impossible to discover what happened to Aaroné, much less hold someone accountable if a crime was committed.
Aaron Thompson, Aaroné’s father, and his girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, have been under scrutiny since November when police named them “persons of interest” in the case of the missing 6-year-old girl.
Lowe died Friday of an apparent heart attack without ever being interviewed by police, and, authorities say, she probably took vital information about the case to her grave.
“Shelley never shared with us critical information that would have gotten resolution of what happened to Aaroné,” Police Chief Dan Oates said Saturday. “There’s no doubt in my mind Shelley Lowe knew exactly what happened to Aaroné Thompson.”
As a result, police believe certain information will be lost forever with her death, said Rob Werking, the legal adviser for Aurora police.
Also lost was the possibility that Thompson or Lowe could turn against the other, which means a potential jury would get only one side of the story, said former Denver District Attorney Norm Early.
“If Mr. Thompson is indicted, then he will be pointing the finger at a dead woman,” Early said. “… If a jury believes Shelley did it, they are not going to convict (Thompson).”
Walter Gerash, who was advising Lowe, said Lowe had consistently denied any involvement in Aaroné’s disappearance. David Lane, attorney for Thompson, refused to comment on the case.
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said the focus of the investigation has always been on finding out what happened to Aaroné after she was reported missing Nov. 14. Even though Lowe is dead, the grand jury proceedings in the case will continue, Chambers added.
When asked how Lowe’s death will affect the grand jury, Chambers said the case may not solely revolve around the actions of one or two people, an apparent reference to Lowe and Thompson. She did not elaborate.
The grand jury process could extend several months because of Lowe’s death, Chambers said, adding that the pace will be slower to give the Lowe and Thompson children time to mourn her.
The eight children, ranging in age from 5 months to 15 years, have been in foster care since shortly after Aaroné disappeared.
According to documents obtained by The Denver Post, in supervised visits with the children, Lowe hurled racial epithets at caseworkers, cursed at them and told the children not to believe the county workers.
Chambers acknowledged that Lowe’s death may change how some witnesses feel about testifying.
“We just don’t know what the fallout will be and whether witnesses will be more willing to talk,” said Leslie Hansen, assistant district attorney in charge of the grand jury investigation. “We still anticipate the grand jury will go forward (this week) as planned.”
The grand jury’s investigation will help determine who, if anyone, is charged with a crime.
Lowe’s former common-law husband told police that Lowe told him she had been doing “something” with Aaroné when the girl began bleeding and quit breathing in a bathtub, according to documents obtained by The Post. Lowe told him that she and Thompson buried the girl in a field, the documents said.
The records also revealed that the children taken from the Lowe and Thompson household said they hadn’t seen Aaroné in more than a year.
Other records obtained by The Post recount allegations of abuse against Lowe’s children, with the earliest coming in Michigan in 1997 and the last in Colorado in 2001. In one of the Michigan cases, according to the documents, caseworkers found Lowe living in a two-bed motel room with her boyfriend and five children.
Now, to get an indictment, investigators must show that the evidence implicates both Lowe and Thompson and not just Lowe, Early said.
“The defense is going to say, ‘Shelley did it,”‘ he said. “Part of the process now before the grand jury is that it could not have just been Shelley, it was both of them.”
The one silver lining for investigators, Early said, is that new witnesses may come forward to challenge Thompson.
“(People) who respected Shelley but were not particularly fond of Aaron … might now tell what they know because they no longer have a fear of potentially implicating Shelley.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
