Arapahoe County DA Names Training Room After Slain Prosecutor Rebecca Bartee

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - The Arapahoe County District Attorney has named its training room in honor of a prosecutor who was murdered in June of 1999. District Attorney George Brauchler announced the training room was being named after Rebecca Bartee, who was with the DA's office for just a few weeks before she was found murdered in her apartment.

"She was the glue that held seven kids together," said one of her sisters, Peggy Brockington. "She was not afraid of anything."

Bartee had moved from Kansas to Denver for the new job as a deputy district attorney. She was 41 when she was found dead. But the case quickly hit a dead end with no suspect identified and Bartee's sister believed there would never be an arrest.

But in 2017, a tipster with knowledge of the case contacted CBS4 with new information that was then shared with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's office. In a matter of months, investigators arrested Robert Williams, 70, who had been Bartee's nextdoor neighbor in 1999 and was still living at the Copper Terrace apartments when he was arrested 18 years later.

"Somebody reached out to an investigative reporter," said Brauchler, "And said I have some information."

He said that information "helped us to solve this case ... is a testament to the humanity and the commitment to the community that the media has in this state."

Brockington said she had given up hope that her sister's killer would ever be found.

"It had been so very long and seemed there was no chance because there was nothing going on in the case."

But in 2017, she remembered the sheriff's office calling her.

"And he said we are going to arrest a suspect, the person who we believe killed Becky. And I said, what, what, how did that happen?"

Brockington said she was stunned and shocked that there would be an arrest so long after the murder. She said she believed CBS4 was "instrumental in getting Becky's case solved."

But then another twist in the case: while in custody in 2018, Robert Williams died of natural causes before he could ever be tried for the Bartee case. Before his death, he declined a request to be interviewed by CBS4.

Brockington said she firmly believes authorities arrested the person responsible for her sisters death, and she said she now has the answers to what happened that allow her to grieve for her sister.

"I'm satisfied. I know what happened to her."

She told CBS4 she wishes the tipster had come forward 20 years earlier.

"That would have saved everyone an amazing amount of heartache," she said.

During Victims' Rights Week, on April 9, Brauchler announced the training room would carry Rebecca Bartee's name, which was warmly received by Bartee's family.

"We will never forget her, we will always love her," said her sister. "And now there's her name on a training center. I thank you."