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.
2:35 p.m. A recording of a phone call from Andrew Lowe, then 14, and Rajon Russell, then 15, to Rick Sallinger of KCNC-Channel 4 is played. Andrew is the son of Thompson’s girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, who died in May 2006. Rajon is Lowe’s brother.
The call was made sometime in early 2006.
In the call, the boys tell Sallinger they want to explain what really happened.
“Aurora police are nothing but liars,” Andrew tells Sallinger.
The boys say she ran away on Nov. 14, 2005, although Rajon already has told police that he had not seen her since he moved to the Aurora home in August 2004.
Rajon tells Sallinger that police are “just trying to break up our family.”
The call ends when the boys hang up after Sallinger presses them to give him confirmation of their identities.
9:53 a.m. In a conversation recorded by police on March 1, 2006, Lowe tells her friend, Tabitha Graves, that Aaroné died in her sleep. Lowe had previously told a former boyfriend that the little girl died in a bathtub at their home on East Kepner Place in Aurora. “I was mixing up (expletive deleted) to see how you would react,” Lowe said.
9:48 a.m. Lowe says in the recording played for jurors today that she sought forgiveness from God after Aaroné died.
“The Lord knows my heart,” Lowe said. “He was the first one I ran to to beg for forgiveness and to get me through this.”
The conversation is taking place at a parking lot where they to stopped to talk. Police are nearby and using a transmitter and a receiver to listen in. Graves also is wearing a recorder, but every time Lowe pats her down before they talk, she never finds it.
Lowe died of heart failure two months after this conversation. At the time, both she and Thompson were considered persons of interest in the disappearance of Aaroné.
8:37 a.m. Graves continues trying to get Lowe to say what happened to Aaroné. She has been coached by police on what to ask Lowe.
“I don’t understand why y’all didn’t call police?” Graves asks Lowe.
“Do you think I’m going to give you the full (expletive deleted) exclusive?” Lowe answers.
After more conversation, Lowe seems to indicate that she might have wanted to contact authorities when Aaroné died.
“I tried to go the correct way. I wanted to deal with it,” she said. “I saw one way, he saw another.”
