Retired Detective Rejects Plea Deal In Case Linked To Unsolved Murder
CANON CITY, Colo. (CBS4)- A retired detective from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office has rejected a plea agreement offer and asked for a trial in an unusual case linked to an unsolved murder.
Former Fremont County Sheriff's Detective Robert Dodd is facing misdemeanor charges of abuse of public records and official misconduct.
He was scheduled to enter a plea on Friday to charges related to having evidence from an unsolved murder case in his private storage locker, but that didn't happen.
"Why did you have that evidence in your locker?" CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger asked Dodd outside of the courthouse on Friday. There was no comment.
Dodd was one of the detectives on the force that has been investigating the still unsolved 2006 murder of 16-year-old Candace Hiltz. She was shot to death with as many as three guns.
Dodd was put on paid administrative leave in January, retired in April, and moved out of state shortly after.
Her mother, Delores Hiltz, wants to know why Dodd had the items related to her daughter's case.
"He has destroyed evidence, tampered with evidence… the whole thing is sickening," she said.
More than a decade after the crime, the evidence was discovered in a private storage locker belonging to Dodd. It included documents, blood covered items and an ax.
Rick Ratzlaff discovered the items of evidence when he bought the storage locker. He notified authorities.
"They never really asked why he had this evidence and why he hid it," Ratzlaff said.
There was more. At a landfill outside of Canon City, evidence from other cases allegedly discarded by Dodd was also discovered.
Hiltz said she has been told the items are related to sex assault cases, "Disgusting that he hasn't been charged with that. That's 20 young girls, some under 18."
As for her daughter's murder, no one has ever been charged.
Dodd's trial is set to begin on June 25.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.