A 64-year-old neighbor was charged Monday with the murder of a 14-year-old Pueblo West girl who was found half-naked in a trash bag Sunday.
Paul Wayne Stark is being held in the Pueblo County jail under a $1 million bail on a charge of first-degree murder.
The body of 14-year-old Ashley Patterson was found in a field 200 yards from her home.
Most of her body was stuffed in a black trash bag, with her calves and feet sticking out, according to the arrest affidavit.
Her arms were bound behind her back with plastic zip ties, and a second plastic trash bag covered her head.
She appeared to have been sexually assaulted. An autopsy planned for today will determine that as well as the exact cause of death, authorities said.
Stark had blood on his clothing when he was interviewed by detectives, according to the arrest affidavit.
Other evidence includes surveillance video of the field from a nearby business that showed Stark’s truck there before the body was found. Tire tracks that matched his Ford pickup truck led authorities to his home.
Inside Stark’s bedroom, investigators found a sneaker and an earring thought to be Ashley’s, as well as blood and hair strands on the sheets.
Ashley’s glasses, the second sneaker and two zip ties similar to the ones she was bound with were found in a trash bin near Stark’s home.
The shoes were identified by Ashley’s mother as those the girl was wearing when she left home that afternoon to look for rocks.
Stark’s wife, Mary, told investigators he had contacted authorities three weeks ago to complain that Ashley had been going through mailboxes in the neighborhood.
Mary Stark told investigators that before her husband filed a complaint with the sheriff’s department, Ashley had told him she would “make it worth his while” not to file a report.
“She felt the comment made by Ashley to Paul was a sexual innuendo,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Paul Stark also accused Ashley and his 12-year-old grandson of looking at pornography on his computer, according to the arrest document.
Ashley was a seventh-grader at Pueblo West Middle School.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
