The boy whose body was found in a Denver field last week was the son of Burlington city administrator Bob Churchwell and his wife, Jan Churchwell.
On Monday the Denver Medical Examiner identified the boy found dead Friday in a field near Ruby Hill Park as Joshua Oaks Churchwell, 17.
A family friend who answered the telephone at the Churchwell home in Burlington said the family would have no comment. “They’re not making any comments right now — maybe sometime in the future,” said the woman, who would not identify herself.
Jan Churchwell is well known as an advocate for adoption and assists families in adopting through her “Jan’s Clan, Adoption Support Group.”
In 2009, she was a finalist in a CVS/pharmacy contest for caregivers called “For All the Ways You Care.” In a video submitted for the contest, Jan Churchwell said the family had fostered more than 100 children since 1986.
According to a news release about the contest issued by Adams County, the Churchwells’ “forever” family includes three biological children and eight foster children. The family has provided emergency foster care for Adams and Kit Carson counties.
Joshua Churchwell had attended Ridge View Academy in Watkins, a Denver public school that specializes in young people who have fallen behind in more traditional schools.
Police still are looking for information about Churchwell’s death. He was found partially buried in a field in the 1700 block of West Atlantic Place by boys who said they were looking for scrap metal in the area.
There were no obvious signs of violence on his body, police said.
Witnesses told investigators that he was in a suitcase or trunk, although police have not confirmed that.
The boys went to a nearby apartment complex and fetched several friends to look at the body before they told a nearby public works crew, police said on Friday.
Burlington police wouldn’t say whether they had received a missing- person report about the boy before he was found. Denver police never received a missing-person report, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
