PUEBLO, Colo.—Pueblo County Coroner James Kramer says strangulation was the cause of death of a 14-year-old girl whose partially nude body was found in a field near her home.
Sheriff’s deputies found Ashley Patterson’s body Sunday in a grassy field in Pueblo West after her mother reported her missing that afternoon. Authorities say the girl’s body was in a black trash bag, her hands were tied behind her back with zip ties, and another plastic bag was over her head.
Kramer said an autopsy conducted Tuesday showed the seventh-grader died of strangulation and asphyxiation.
On Monday, investigators arrested one of the girl’s neighbors, 64-year-old Paul Wayne Stark, on suspicion of first-degree murder in her death. He was being held in the Pueblo County Jail on $1 million bail.
According to the arrest affidavit, detectives followed tire tracks from the girl’s body to Stark’s home. A search of the home and a trash bin outside turned up eyeglasses, shoes and an earring belonging to Ashley, the affidavit said.
Stark and his wife told detectives they knew the girl and that she had played with their 12-year-old grandson on occasion at their home. Stark said he had not seen the girl Sunday and was in his yard fixing a birdhouse while his wife was at church that afternoon, the affidavit said.
Attempts to leave a phone message for Stark at the jail were unsuccessful.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,
