CENTENNIAL — Aaron Thompson of Aurora is on trial in Arapahoe County District Court for the death of his daughter Aaroné, who was reported missing in 2005.
Electronic devices cannot transmit from the courtroom, but The Denver Post will provide trial updates when possible.
5:10 p.m. After talking to the judge behind closed doors, an alternate juror who reported being intimidated by a motorcycle riding in circles near Arapahoe County Courthouse on Friday told the judge she was willing to continue her service.
3:15 p.m. Judge Valeria Spencer calls for an afternoon recess, in part to discuss what to do about an incident after court adjourned Friday. Apparently several jurors in the parking lot were intimidated by someone who had been in the courtroom, driving a motorcycle and staring at them. An alternate juror voiced her concerns to the court and could be excused from the case, Spencer said.
11:17 a.m. Former Aurora Police Department Capt. Ricky Bennett took the stand and said he led the investigation from about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 14, 2005, until about 4:30 a.m. the following morning. He said he asked Thompson several pointed questions late into the night. “I looked him square in the eyes and said, ‘Is there anything else, Mr. Thompson?’ Mr. Thompson looked away and said, ‘No, just help me find my child.’ ”
Mid-morning. Officer Jonathan Zius testified that he tried to talk to the Thompson children alone that day, without Thompson’s live-in girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, present. He went to speak with them downstairs, where the children were gathered. Once he started asking questions, however, Lowe came downstairs and sat on the stairs next to the couch. One of the children told Zius that Aaroné liked to hide underneath the basement stairs and that she didn’t like to play with any of the kids.
9:05 a.m. Officer Sean Pascal takes the stand and said Aaron Thompson seemed “very subdued” when police were at the home on East Kepner Place. When police were searching the downstairs, all the kids were down there in a corner. None of them said a single word. He thought that was kind of odd.
8:46 a.m. Aurora police officer David Wilson takes the stand. He says he canvassed the neighborhood where Aaroné lived: “No one had seen her, and no one had known of her.”
