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A lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver claims Evans police covered up evidence suggesting Ashley Fallis did not commit suicide but was murdered by her husband, a Weld County sheriff’s deputy.
The suit filed on behalf of Ashley Fallis’ parents, Joel Raguidin and Jenna Fox, names Evans Police Chief Rick Brandt and four other detectives and officers of the department as defendants.
The lawsuit filed by the Denver law firm of Holland, Holland Edwards & Grossman says the defendants “jointly acted to cover up a potential homicide” by Fallis’ husband Tom Fallis, by ignoring incriminating statements and crime-scene evidence and altering inculpatory statements into false exculpatory statements.
The lawsuit filed Friday says Evans police also refused to follow basic homicide protocols like testing DNA in order to make “this homicide appear like a suicide.”
The lawsuit credits Fox31 News investigative reporter Justin Joseph for revealing the cover-up of evidence in the Jan. 1, 2012 shooting death of Ashley Fallis following a New Year’s Eve party.
Brandt and Evans City Manager Alden Hogan Jr. couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
, Tom Fallis was indicted by a Weld County grand jury on a charge of second-degree murder.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory, consequential and punitive damages for emotional distress and humiliation. They also seek attorney’s fees.
During a New Year’s party at the Fallis home in Evans in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2012, Fox told Tom Fallis to stop cursing loudly because their were kids in the house, the lawsuit says. Tom Fallis became enraged and yelled repeatedly, “—- those kids.” He also accused his wife of going outside and smoking marijuana because she didn’t have a “brain in her (expletive) head.” He cursed everyone and said, “I wish you all would die,” the lawsuit says.
After family left the home, Tom Fallis picked up a 9 mm Taurus handgun during an argument and during a struggle held the gun to his wife’s head and shot her, the lawsuit says, citing grand jury records.
When police arrived, Fallis was yelling that he was a Weld County sheriff’s deputy, while clenching his fists in an aggressive manner.
During the ensuing investigation, defendants “strained to ignore and knowlingly omitted key incriminating witness accounts from their investigation reports, altered witness testimony, and purposely failed to follow standard protocol for a homicide investigation in order to summarily accept fellow law enforcement officer Fallis’ story that his wife had killed herself,” the lawsuit said.
A neighbor and witness, Nick Glover, told defendant Det. Michael Yates that he overheard Tom Fallis confessing to his parents that he killed his wife, the lawsuit says.
Glover said he heard Tom Fallis say, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I did it. Oh my God, what have I done. What have I done.”
“‘What? What are you saying?'” his parents replied, according to the neighbor.
“‘I shot her,'” Tom Fallis allegedly said.
The evidence also included the statement of the Fallis’ 6-year-old child Jolie Fallis, who said, “I saw my daddy get the gun ready and shoot mommy three times.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
