Katrina Sue Harvey has been convicted of misdemeanor child abuse while intoxicated, and twice police have cited teens in her home for underage drinking.
Now Arvada police detectives are investigating whether alcohol was served to minors at her house at 9995 W. 81st Ave. on Saturday night when two Pomona High School teens went to her home and later were killed in a car accident.
Authorities have given the driver who crashed the car in Westminster, Gregory Ullrich, a blood-alcohol test to determine whether he was impaired, said Westminster police spokesman Tim Read. Ullrich had also been at Harvey’s house before the accident.
“There were enough indicators to believe there was alcohol involved,” Read said, referring to Ullrich’s condition following the accident.
Alex Livesay and Chayce Miller, both 16, were killed when Ullrich crashed a Honda hatchback into a utility pole at Wadsworth Parkway and West 92nd Avenue. Ullrich was in serious condition Wednesday at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
The blood-alcohol test isn’t done unless there is probable cause that a driver is impaired, Read said. That doesn’t mean the test will confirm impairment, and authorities are still awaiting the results of Ullrich’s test, Read added.
If he was impaired, Ullrich could be charged with vehicular homicide, Read said.
Harvey, 44, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Next-door neighbor Marilyn Johnstone said she found three unopened Keystone Ice beers near a bush next to Harvey’s property Saturday night shortly before the accident.
A car belonging to someone attending a party that night at Harvey’s house was parked in front of the beers, she said.
“This story is about two boys that are dead because of what is allowed at that house,” she said.
Neighbors say there have been a series of raucous parties at Harvey’s home since she moved there in October.
During a New Year’s Day party attended by 50 teens, neighbors said youths urinated on lawns and discarded empty beer cans and condoms on the sidewalks, Johnstone and another neighbor said.
A minor was issued a summons for possession of alcohol at the party, said Arvada police spokeswoman Susan Medina. Police went to the home on a noise complaint, she said.
Five months earlier, a juvenile was arrested at Harvey’s previous home, 9548 89th Circle in Westminster, for underage drinking, according to police records.
Three parents wanted Harvey to be charged after their children drank alcohol at her home, but only a juvenile was cited, the police report says.
In 2002, Harvey served a six-month deferred judgment after pleading guilty to child abuse.
According to a Sept. 11, 2002, police report, the manager of the Breakaway Center, 4201 W. 94th Ave., called and said Harvey was belligerent and reeked of alcohol. The manager said Harvey yelled and cussed at a boy who had been playing hockey at the center. Her relationship to the boy is not clear.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
