Aurora – A year after little Aaroné Thompson was reported missing, only one thing is certain: nothing.
No charges have been filed. No suspects have been arrested. No body has been found. No indictments have emerged from a grand jury that has been meeting for several months.
“I hope they find the girl,” said Doyle Black, who lives a few houses down from where Aaroné and her family lived on East Kepner Place. “We need to get some closure on this.”
The next step in the case probably won’t happen until January at the earliest, when a grand jury that has been hearing evidence is expected to decide whether to issue an indictment.
But as of today, a year to the day since she was reported missing, nothing about the case is certain.
The grand jury has yet to hear testimony from Aaroné’s father, Aaron Thompson, who police said was a “person of interest” in the 6-year-old girl’s disappearance. Thompson is likely to be one of the last witnesses called to appear before the grand jury.
On Nov. 17, three days after Aaroné was reported missing, police called off their search, declared the case a homicide and focused their investigation on Thompson and his live-in girlfriend, Shelley Lowe.
The swift decision surprised some, and now, one year later, questions linger over whether the police stopped the search too soon.
“This is what troubles me,” said the Rev. Acen Phillips of the New Birth Temple of Praise in Denver. “The child is still missing, and no one’s out looking.”
“… Shelley Lowe knew …”
Lowe died in May of heart disease, taking with her valuable information in the case, authorities said. After her death, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said: “There’s no doubt in my mind Shelley Lowe knew exactly what happened to Aaroné Thompson.”
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said that if the grand jury decides against an indictment, she would not file charges without more investigation.
“The case won’t be closed, but the grand jury would make the decision as to whether we would file charges at that time,” Chambers said.
The other children in the Thompson home told authorities they hadn’t seen Aaroné since before Halloween of 2004.
Beyond that, about the only information made public as to what could have happened to Aaroné came from Lowe’s former common-law husband, Eric Williams, recently paroled following escape and drug charges.
A day after Aaroné’s father reported the girl missing, Williams told police the girl was killed in the family home and buried in a field by Thompson and Lowe, according to social-services court documents obtained by The Denver Post.
But Thompson’s attorney, David Lane, disputes those claims, saying the grand jury has had months to investigate, yet nothing has been announced.
“If there was any solid evidence against Aaron Thompson, they would’ve indicted him. I have no doubt,” Lane said. “All you need to arrest someone for murder is probable cause, and that’s not a very high standard.”
Oates would not discuss specifics of the case, except to say there is more evidence than just Williams’ claims. Police have contacted more than 470 witnesses in the past year.
“Most of our work on this case has occurred sort of under the radar screen and outside the press and public,” Oates said. “We’ve done a massive amount of work on this case, and that work is being reviewed by the grand jury.”
Life has been a struggle
In the year since he reported his daughter missing, Aaron Thompson’s life has been a struggle, Phillips said.
He still sees Thompson every Sunday at church, and Thompson is studying to become a deacon, Phillips said.
Last week, Thompson found a job, although Phillips could not recall exactly what he was doing. Thompson was laid off as a security guard shortly after he became a person of interest in the case, and was fired about three months later.
Since then, Phillips said, no one would hire him because of the notoriety he has received since the disappearance of his daughter.
Phillips said Thompson is trying to get back the eight children taken from his and Shelley’s custody when Aaroné was reported missing. The children were placed in foster care.
“He (Thompson) was emotionally disturbed after the child disappeared,” Phillips said. “The accusations kept coming and coming. It took a lot out of him when Shelley died. It’s been a tough time for him.”
A girl few people knew
Aaroné’s neighborhood shows no signs of the hoopla that enveloped it a year ago.
At that time, helicopters flew overhead. Television satellite trucks took over the streets, and residents searched for the girl they knew little about.
On a recent afternoon, some neighbors didn’t want to talk about the case, or they had formed their own opinions as to who was responsible for Aaroné’s disappearance but did not want to reveal them.
Adam Luna, who lives across the street from the former Thompson home, didn’t know Aaroné or the other children at the home.
“We never saw them. It was a total and supreme shock that she or the other kids lived there or that the girl was missing,” Luna said.
Things have returned to normal in that cul-de-sac. Few neighbors even mention the case anymore, Luna said.
Black, however, wants some news, any news, about what happened to Aaroné.
“We need some follow-up, something,” Black said. “It’s a real tragedy.”
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
