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. The girl would have been 6 years old at the time of her disappearance. Her body has not been found.
Electronic devices cannot transmit from the courtroom, but The Denver Post is providing trial updates when possible.
2 p.m. A recorded interview with police continues, with Kadezshia Smith, the then 12-year-old daughter of Shelley Lowe, who was Thompson’s live-in girlfriend, saying she was told by her mom that Aaroné was coming home on Nov. 14, 2005, after spending about two years with her mother back in Detroit.
On that same day, Thompson reported his daughter missing after he said she ran away from home over a cookie.
“I thought she was there. I thought she came back when I was in school,” Kadezshia said.
1:37 p.m. Kadezshia finally breaks down and admits she never saw Aaroné on the day she was reported missing.
“I always take my parents’ side,” she said. “You know how it is.”
Kadezshia tells detectives that she last saw Aaroné about two years earlier. She said Lowe told her and the other kids what to say to police so she lied.
“I’m supposed to,” she said. “I’m her daughter.”
11:21 a.m. Aurora police detectives Shannon Lucy and Gretchen Fronapfel get tired of playing good cop so they tell Kadezshia that she’ll never be able to go back to the home again.
“It’s over,” Lucy tells her.
Kadezshia then starts yelling and crying at the officers at the same time.
“I want my life back,” she said. “I want my family back.”
Much of the time she is being interviewed by police, Kadezshia has been holding and stroking a stuffed lion. But she still does not tell police what they want to hear, even though police say others have told them that Aaroné has been gone awhile and didn’t run away.
“I’m not going to say what they said because it’s not the truth,” she said.
9:02 a.m. The prosecution played an interview between Aurora police and Smith.
The video was taken at Aurora police headquarters on Nov. 17, 2005, three days after Aaroné was reported missing.
The tape starts out with Kadezshia telling police over and over again that she is not lying about seeing Aaroné sleeping the day she was reported missing.
She also said that Lowe rarely spanked Aaroné. Most of the time it was Thompson, and even then it was rare. Kadezshia also speaks glowingly of Thompson.
“He’s a great dad,” the girl says during the interview. “He’s been great for my mom. She finally found the perfect guy.”
8:40 a.m. Court gets underway with the continuation of a video of the Thompson home. It shows a messy basement with bins where the children in the home would store their clothes, and the girls’ bedroom, two sets of bunkbeds with one mattress missing.
The video also includes shots of the backyard, with green grass that was partially covered with snow in the shady areas.
