A man arrested and held on $1 million bail had long been sending “harassing” text messages to his wife before she was found dead in a Douglas County home along with her brother-in-law.
Christopher B. Wells, 49, was arrested Tuesday by El Paso County authorities for violating a restraining order against his ex-wife, Amara Wells, 39. He was in custody when she was killed.
She and Robert Rafferty Jr., 49, were found stabbed to death in his Castle Rock home in the Keene Ranch subdivision southwest of Castle Rock at 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Christopher Wells was arrested after his wife was questioned about an allegation that she had inappropriately scanned personal information of clients of the Keystone bank where she worked, according to court records obtained by 9News. He allegedly made the false accusation.
Amara Wells told deputies that her husband had long been harassing her in violation of a restraining order through text messages but she had overlooked the violations until he made the false accusation.
She then released to authorities 184 text messages he sent to her in January, in which he called her “fat, ugly and a piece of —-.”
In January, Amara Wells returned 47 text messages to her husband, often warning him to stop trying to contact her or she would call police.
Amara Wells had been staying at the Rafferty home since August, when she filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order, public records show. Rafferty’s wife, Tammy, is Christopher Wells’ sister.
KMGH-Channel 7 reported that Amara’s 6-year-old daughter found the bodies and ran to a neighbor’s house, and the neighbor called 911.
Emergency communications show that the neighbor initially mistook the young girl for a boy, the television station said.
“He’s stating that a 10-year- old boy just knocked on his door and stated that he woke up and found his mom on the floor . . . with blood . . . and also his uncle,” a dispatcher told deputies.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Christopher Wells’ age was wrong.
