A man who identified himself as a suspect in the disappearance of a 19-year-old Aurora woman has been charged with attempted murder in the assault of a woman who leaped from a burning Fort Collins apartment last week.
Travis Forbes, 31, was arrested in connection to the assault and arson that forced Lydia Tillman to jump from a second-story window, according to Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis.
The apartment fire broke out in the 1200 block of Pomona Street at 5:33 a.m. July 5.
Tillman was injured during the fire and by the leap from the window. Doctors confirmed she also sustained injuries when she was physically assaulted before her apartment was set on fire. She remains hospitalized, Davis said.
Forbes was also charged today in Larimer County with arson, sexual assault, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated motor vehicle theft, according to court records.
Forbes became a person of interest in the assault when officials learned late last week that he was in the Fort Collins area. Police then began watching him. He was arrested early Sunday morning for false reporting of identity to authorities.
The Denver Post does not typically name victims of sex assault, however, Tillman’s family last week identified her in an appeal for help in finding her attacker.
Fort Collins police arrested Forbes last night around 10 p.m. Bond is set at $350,000.
Forbes has previously said he is a suspect in the missing-person case of Kenia Monge, 19, a woman who disappeared April 1 from Denver’s Lower Downtown nightclub district.
Forbes was arrested in Texas on a felony aggravated car theft warrant out of Wheat Ridge in May.
In interviews with The Denver Post, Forbes has described himself as a suspect in Monge’s disappearance.
Forbes said he was only trying to help Monge when he offered her a ride home in the early morning of April 1 as she left her friends, personal belongings and cellphone behind in a LoDo nightclub. He said he let her out at a gas station and she walked off with a stranger. She has not been seen since.
Police have searched Forbes’ business, van and a farm in Larimer County. They found holes in his story and have outlined odd circumstances in search-warrant affidavits.
The day after Monge’s disappearance, Forbes was seen on videotape rolling a large duct-taped cooler to the back entrance of an Aurora bakery where he had leased space. The camera continues recording as Forbes is seen turning off the recording device, according to court records.
Forbes told police he turned off the recording device because he needed to change his clothes. But he later admitted to a friend that he lied to them because he turned off the camera so he could take the $60 that was later found missing from the bakery cash register.
Tillman moved to Fort Collins from Longmont about a month ago and was living alone in the apartment, police say. She is one of seven sales representatives in Colorado for the Natural Wine Co., a distributor of wines headquartered in Boulder. Before coming to Colorado, Tillman lived in New York City and worked as a wine director at Casa Mono, an upscale restaurant near Gramercy Park.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
