Lincoln County authorities found three bodies Tuesday believed to be a Castle Rock family who failed to return from a Labor Day trip to Mesa Verde National Park.
The cause of death is believed to be a double-murder suicide committed by the father, Joseph Blecha, 49, said Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane.
“It appears the man killed the two women and then killed himself,” Lane said.
Authorities have been searching for Blecha; his wife, Jacqueline, 46; and her 14-year-old daughter, Ashley Martin, since concerned relatives called Castle Rock police.
The bodies were found along with their missing Chevrolet pickup in a ravine in a remote area 12 miles east of Hugo, police said. Hugo is about 110 miles southeast of Denver.
Lane said the cause of death and motive are still being determined.
Castle Rock police went to the Blechas’ home within the past month because the couple were arguing, Lane said. No one was taken into custody.
Investigators are getting a search warrant and expect to search the family’s home today in the 5800 block of South Rock Creek.
Lane said Jacqueline Blecha and Ashley Martin were last seen Sept. 1. Neighbors reported seeing Joseph at the family’s home on Sept. 6.
Jacqueline Blecha was listed as a teacher assistant at Buffalo Ridge Elementary School in Douglas County. The school’s former principal, Barry Meigs, declined to comment about Jacqueline Blecha but said he remembered her there.
In 2001, Joseph Blecha filed for a divorce in Douglas County when the couple began having financial difficulties, but they went through counseling and soon after dismissed the case, said Roseann Martin, Ashley Martin’s grandmother and Jacqueline Blecha’s former mother-in-law.
Martin, contacted by telephone at her home in Fort Myers, Fla., said the Blechas were having financial troubles again and speculated that they were splitting up.
Ashley Martin’s father lives in Ohio and has shared custody of the girl, but the teenager has been living with her mother most of the time since they moved from Fort Myers to Castle Rock six years ago, Martin said.
Jacqueline Blecha had numerous relatives around the south Denver metro area and married Joseph Blecha, a welder, prior to moving from Florida, Martin said.
“They decided it was better that Ashley stay with her mother in Colorado, because she was very close to her mother and worried a lot about her,” Martin said.
Ashley Martin was a smart girl who dreamed of becoming a youth minister and a marine biologist, Martin said.
“Ashley was adorable, gregarious,” Martin said. “This is so tragic. I don’t know how Ashley’s father is going to handle the news.”
