A suspected serial killer who was awaiting trial for the 1996 murder of a 27-year-old woman has died in a Denver hospital from pneumonia and other health complications.
Chester Leroy Todd, 69, was charged with first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree felony murder in connection with the death of Sherri Lynn Majors, Denver District Attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said.
“I can see our Sherry dancing in heaven,” said Majors’ father, Everett Donelson. “The Lord knows all about Chester Todd, and that’s good enough for us.”
Majors’ parents, who raised her three sons after her rape and murder, said the 17 years they have been awaiting justice for their daughter have been grueling.
Todd once told officials he wanted to stay in the Denver jail because if he were in prison, his medical care would be provided largely by inmates, Donelson said. During the 33 months Todd awaited trial, he was frequently taken to Denver Health Medical Center for treatment, Donelson said.
Donelson said lawyers used many delaying tactics so Todd could die on his terms.
“Justice is definitely never going to be delayed again, here or in heaven,” Linda Donelson said.
Todd died Saturday morning at Denver Health.
Todd only admitted he was a murder fugitive in Las Vegas when he was in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease and sought medical care.
Majors was last seen leaving a Commerce City bar on March 16, 1996. Her body was found the next morning in an alley behind the 2400 block of Blake Street, according to a news release.
Todd, a truck driver, learned within days of the murder that there was a warrant out for his arrest. He abandoned his tractor- trailer at a truck stop in Sioux City, Iowa, and disappeared.
His whereabouts was unknown until . Todd, who was homeless, had been working at a produce warehouse under the alias James Diamond.
Todd was then brought back to Colorado to face murder charges and has been in the custody of the Denver Sheriff’s Department since his arrest.
At first, Todd claimed he met Majors at a Commerce City pub and agreed to drive her home and that they had consensual sex in his truck. Todd later admitted that he struck her in the face and raped her. While he was striking her with an iron bar used to detach the trailer from the cab, Majors’ asked, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you are a bitch,” Todd said during his confession, according to Denver cold-cases Detective Philip Stanford.
In 2006, the FBI released a bulletin naming Todd as a suspect in a series of killings and rapes of prostitutes at truck stops across the country.
for the shotgun slaying of a man.
