COLORADO SPRINGS — Furious at his estranged wife, exhausted by conflict, Scott A. Montgomery decided to kill himself and his two sons—convinced, he wrote longingly in a suicide note, that the three were bound for “a place of unconditional love and peace.”
“I always told Skyler I would teach him to fly…” he said in a note addressed to his family.
What he called a “new start” came to a grisly end June 22 when Montgomery, having already killed his sons, charged an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy with a knife inside his mountain home in the Crystal Park subdivision near Manitou Springs.
Montgomery, 37, was shot three times at close range. He died in his bedroom.
Authorities say the man friends and family described as a devoted father had drugged Skyler, 5, and Canyon, 21 months, placed the sleeping boys in his 1998 Jeep Cherokee and waited while exhaust filled the vehicle from a hose he rigged, a day or two before the deadly confrontation with deputies.
He laid their lifeless bodies on their bed before trying to kill himself—cutting his arms, stabbing himself in the chest and trying unsuccessfully to electrocute himself in the bathtub. At one point, he lay in bed with the boys.
Details of Montgomery’s crimes—together with the pain, anger and paranoia behind them—were provided Friday at a news conference held by El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa to discuss the county’s first two homicide cases of the year and the county’s first deputy-involved shooting death in nearly 33 years.
Deputy Adam Garcia, who fired the fatal gunshots, reasonably feared for his life and was justified in using lethal force, District Attorney John Newsome said at the news conference. Garcia and the other deputy involved in the confrontation, Lisa Montville, both returned to service in July after taking vacation time.
Garcia joined the sheriff’s office in 2002 and was transferred to patrol in May 2005. Montville began her career in 2001 and started as a patrol deputy in July 2005. Both have been decorated for their service.
Montgomery and his wife, Carrie Montgomery, married nine years ago but had been living separately since February, after marital troubles led to allegations of domestic violence by Scott Montgomery.
In three suicide notes discovered after his death, Montgomery lashes out at his estranged wife for keeping him from his children and speaks of being with them in the afterlife.
“Dear Carrie,” one read, “No more fighting. No more lies. No more lies. No more lies. Just PEACE. See you when you get home.”
Skyler and Canyon died of a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and a lack of oxygen, autopsies found. Toxicology tests also showed they had been given doses of Ambien, a sleeping pill.
The children probably died the night of June 20 or early June 21, El Paso County Coroner Dr. Robert Bux said Friday. It would have taken 10 to 20 minutes for the children to die in the Jeep, he said, and there’s no evidence that either woke up.
“I have to believe that a 5-year-old boy could have gotten out of that car,” he said.
The children had been staying with Scott Montgomery for about a week before the shooting.
Carrie Montgomery called sheriff ‘s deputies on June 22 after arriving at the mountain cabin at 6240 Waterfall Loop and finding the doors locked and windows covered with blankets hung from the inside. It had been two days since she had last spoken with her children, and she had been unable to leave messages on her husband’s cell phone because his voice mail was full.
It took an hour for Garcia and Montville to travel from the Colorado Springs area up the winding mountain road where the cabin is tucked among several other homes shrouded by trees.
The following account of what happened next was provided by Maketa, whose office investigated the murders of Skyler and Canyon, and a 14-page report from the district attorney’s office, which probed the shooting by the deputy:
The deputies circled the home, searching for signs of activity.
At the backdoor, through a small gap at the corner of the window, each peaked inside. A small table lay overturned next to a pool of blood. Garcia probed the darkened room with his flashlight, illuminating the bed where the bodies of Montgomery’s children lay side by side, covered with their father’s blood.
“Oh my God!” a neighbor heard the deputy shout.
Garcia grabbed his baton, shattered the glass and opened the door. The deputies entered, shouting “We’re coming in!”
After reaching the children—the deputies recognized “obvious signs” they had been dead for some time—they began their search for Montgomery.
The pair checked the home room by room, looking in closets, behind doors and in other potential hiding spots. With only a closet in Montgomery’s bedroom left to search, Montville hung back to provide cover. Garcia approached the door with his pistol in his right hand, opened it and peaked around a corner.
He found Montgomery “naked, lying on his back, very pale, even ashen in color,” according to the DA report.
Garcia whispered to Montville that the man appeared to be dead. A moment later, Montgomery “sprang” to his feet with a knife in hand and began advancing on the deputy, the report said.
Garcia moved backward in the bedroom and shouted for Montgomery to drop the knife before he began firing.
Five minutes elapsed from the time the deputies entered the home and when they reported “shots fired.”
Carrie Montgomery, waiting outside, heard the “pop, pop, pop” of gunfire and waited for several minutes until Montville walked out of the cabin, alone, toward her patrol car.
“She was pale as a ghost with tears in her eyes,” Carrie Montgomery told investigators.
The investigation was delayed, in part, by the complexity of determining how the shooting unfolded, Maketa said.
The first two shots hit Montgomery in the arm and hip and were fired from inches away as Montgomery ran toward the deputy. The third bullet, which proved fatal, entered the man’s back just below his neck, the autopsy determined.
According to the District Attorney’s report, Bux noted that shootings during close-quarter confrontations are “dynamic, chaotic and very fast-moving” and that it is “extremely difficult” to reconstruct every “minute event.”
Scott Montgomery’s family praised the deputies in a letter they requested be read at Friday’s news conference.
“We pray that they can find peace, if any can be found, and hope they continue to serve their community with dignity and honor,” the letter read.
An alcohol-free benefit in memory of the victims will be held Aug. 31 at Soda Springs Park in Manitou Springs. Proceeds will be directed to the Bleusky Foundation benefiting abused women and children.
