GREELEY, Colo.—A former Weld County sheriff’s deputy who is facing a charge of tampering with evidence by handling a gun believed used by his wife in the slaying of her romantic rival appeared in court Wednesday.
Ken Nelson, 44, who was arrested in Walla Walla, Wash., last week had a court date set for Sept. 4, according to television reports. Nelson is accused of taking a gun believed used in a fatal shooting from his suspect wife and later turning it in.
It was unclear whether Nelson was still in custody. After hours messages left for his attorney, Todd Taylor, and the Larimer County district attorney’s office, which took over prosecution of the case from Weld County, were not immediately returned.
Police allege Nelson’s wife, Shawna Nelson, shot Heather Garraus, 37, because she was having an affair with Garraus’ husband, Ignacio Garraus, who was a Greeley policeman at the time but has resigned. Months earlier, Heather Garraus had told her husband to stop seeing Shawna Nelson.
Investigators suspect Nelson took the gun after stopping his wife’s pickup truck and talking to her shortly after the Jan. 23 slaying.
Investigators also said Ken Nelson had purchased the gun, a .40-caliber Glock model 22, in July 2006.
Shawna Nelson’s trial is set for late November.
