This is the Thrill of on TLC.
This is a major breaking story right now in Denver.
Our house is broken.
This story is big and suspicious.
They got a horseback search going out there.
Two more of Denver's homeless are found murdered in Lower Downtown.
Hi, Brian Moss.
Can you hear me?
We are going to come to you soon.
We got a murder scene to go to.
You better go eat.
An unusual storm is gathering over Denver, Colorado.
There's a serial killer out there.
A lot of times I dream about these murders.
It's about some of my friends that were killed.
Someone is brutally murdering Denver's homeless.
Five tragedies in the last month have been beaten to death, bludgeoned to death.
I'm scared to death.
We have nothing but rocks and sticks.
There are fears that this is a serial killer who is working Denver.
Is it outsiders? Is it other homeless people?
Nobody knows.
For the local media, this is one of the biggest stories of the year.
Today we're here to announce a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons that are responsible for the deaths of five homeless men in the past two months.
People turn up dead along the South Platte River in Hobo Caps.
That's sad, but in any big city, life is cheap downtown.
Veteran reporter Terry Jessup is covering the story for KCNC-TV in Denver.
A break in the search for Cortez police officer's killers.
KCNC News 4 broadcasts seven and a half hours of daily news throughout Colorado.
This is based on FiveGo.
The station's news desk is command central.
Information often comes through here first.
Is there a bus on its side or anybody in earth you can see?
Before any information becomes news, it must wind its way through the controlled chaos of the newsroom.
I know, it's been corrected.
The assignment editors.
Is somebody writing this? Are you writing this?
Producers.
I just want to start with the newest stuff right off the top.
Anchors.
30 seconds.
All work closely together to produce each news hour.
15.
Standby to roll your tape, Frank. Sound of Zolp FS2.
On time.
10 seconds.
And without a hitch.
Here we go, standby.
And it is off.
But on the front line of television news are the reporters.
Here at the Capitol today, here at the Capitol today is the roll cue to the VO.
After more than 20 years in the news business, Terry Jessup remains passionate about being a reporter.
It's like an electrical cord. You just grab it and it tugs you along.
And you see the most amazing things and sometimes it burns you.
But it's never boring.
Without Wels, would I get to interview the last four presidents?
It's amazing.
Every news day begins with a morning story meeting.
We had that big story on with the phone company the other day saying they were going to get better.
This guy who's been waiting for 14 months, might be a good story.
Filling seven and a half hours of programming a day is a constant challenge.
Tim, we need a lead story. What do you got?
And KCNC reporters span the city, working on a wide range of stories.
I sense fire.
Fire.
You hang out here pretty often?
Yeah.
Who did you know that's been arrested?
You know what daylight savings is when you change the clocks?
Would you like to see year-round daylight savings?
Yes.
Alright, so lead for tonight.
But it's the hottest stories of the day that drive the newscast.
I used to think that homeless story was a good story.
I would pitch that four days ago and I would say nobody cares about the homeless.
The $100,000 reward has escalated the homeless murder story.
I think we need to get in this homeless story,
where we'll be over it until some of the next dead guys show up.
Reporting on the homeless murders for the 5pm news is Terry's chance to play a role in this mystery.
You catch some bad guys once in a while.
I heard Paul Newman say that in a movie about the media, but it's true.
They're right. They're right.
The murders of five homeless men, all brutally killed in the same area of downtown Denver,
have the city on edge.
A serial killer may be out there, and Terry hits the streets to find out.
Is there any definitive motive on any of them?
We're looking at different angles. We're looking at robbery. We're looking at just emotion.
We don't have any evidence that is directing us in one particular direction or another.
If the police have any leads, they're not letting on.
Some of the things that we are doing, I really can't discuss.
There has been some talk that a lot of these homeless people have antiskizophrenic medication,
and there could be somebody attacking them to get hold of that. Does that make any sense at all?
That's a possibility. Folks who are homeless who have mental health problems may have some limited medications.
The police are not the only source of information.
You've heard this theory, these are thrill killings. This may be a serial killer.
We've heard reports from other communities that this can happen, but never anything like this.
What are you hearing from the people who come here? Now, how much fear is there?
It scares me, man. I kind of look old myself when I'm out there sleeping on these streets.
You think these are thrill killings?
Yeah. They knocked a lot of these older guys out.
Don't you think with the number of attacks, somebody's seen something?
Somebody's seen something, but ain't nobody seen nothing.
Could be late, could be thrill killings, could be a serial killer, could just be happenstance.
We interviewed a guy on the street who thinks it's another homeless person versus the police.
You think it's someone targeting homeless people?
It's the police.
Okay.
Keeping pace with every developing news story requires around-the-clock attention.
News 4, this is Chris.
We have got a home run slam-dunk for 10 o'clock.
Chris Schabel is a night-side reporter for the 10 p.m. news.
I consider this my hometown. My parents still live in Boulder, Colorado.
Police also say the investigation is ongoing and no one has been ruled out.
So whenever I do a story, I'm not just telling the audience, I'm telling my parents.
Chris has a unique family background.
I have always known that I was adopted.
It's a good thing they told me, because I would have figured it out anyway.
I'm the only African-American child in a white family.
And I think it's a credit to how I was raised that I don't look at the world through white eyes or black eyes.
I look at the world through human eyes.
Chris follows up on an ongoing story about a missing child.
He wants to report on the family's latest plea for help from the public.
We're doing an interview with Alan Atadero, who's the father of Jared Atadero,
a little boy who was missing in the mountains of Colorado and has never been found.
It's been an intense interview.
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it, but I'm going to do it.
He was on a hiking trip with some friends and said he was going to run forward, and he never made it.
Something happened. He got off the trail and he never made it.
This is a story that Chris has been drawn to since he first reported it.
For seven straight days, would-be rescuers searched for Jared Atadero.
They found a missing child, and they were looking for him.
For seven straight days, would-be rescuers searched for Jared Atadero.
They found one set of child tracks mixed with both a mountain lion and a bear, but found little else.
We probably turned over every stone we could think of. It's a mystery.
Chris Schaubel, News 4.
Hey, Alan. How you doing?
We were wondering if we could nab you and bring you downstairs.
While covering the story, Chris developed a close relationship with the missing boy's father, Alan Atadero.
For almost a week, while this search is going on, I'm talking to Mr. Atadero every day.
And here's a man who's lost his son, and during all this pain and tears, he's talking to us day in and day out.
And I just build this relationship with him.
Okay, you stand right over here.
Okay.
Alan Atadero still hasn't given up hope, and now has taken out an ad in the local paper to remind people that his son may still be alive.
Were the first ones to do something on this in terms of a story?
Wow.
He technically is listed as a missing person, so we want people to keep their eyes open, because hopefully one of these days Jared will still be back with us.
Can you read me the little top portion of it?
My name is Jared Atadero, and I'm still missing. Please keep your eyes open. There's no evidence I'm on the mountain.
Maybe somebody did take him, thinking he was just a lost little boy, and he needed a home.
I'm hoping somebody's taken care of him.
He's doing what a parent would want to do.
You're doing the right thing, because the more you keep it in the public eye, the more people care.
I'll probably be doing a story with you every so often.
I would do anything in my power to help Mr. Atadero. I can only wonder what it would be like to lose a child.
The least I can do is help him get his story on the air. So I like the guy a lot. I like his family.
How many people do you think are involved?
Terry Jessup has gathered all the information he can about the homeless murders. He now must pull the elements of his story together.
For Terry, being a reporter is all about being a good storyteller.
That's what keeps me going. If this isn't good, if it's poorly written, it's all on me. I've got no excuse.
Test, one, two, three, four. Doug Simmons believes the killer is just like him, homeless.
Before discovering his passion for reporting, Terry was already accustomed to performing under pressure.
I boxed golden gloves and traveled all over the country, Madison Square Garden to sell for them.
I got a room full of trophies and a crooked nose, but I never got the big paycheck.
Down the corridor where good men die like dogs. Find the editor and breathe life into this.
The head of Denver's homicide unit won't say there's a serial killer at work, but won't deny it either.
While the editor assembles the package, Terry heads downtown to do a live shot for the 5 p.m. broadcast.
Can you hear me, Stacey?
Terry, we're probably about a minute thirty away.
I still get nervous on live shots.
Move over that way.
Some people think if you've had years and years of doing it, it's like riding a bicycle. You can fall off.
Even the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry at this point.
Live shots are an article of faith. Each one is different and has its own host of technical gremlins, but I think we might be all right.
The live shot is the final element Terry needs to complete his story.
Standby, camera two.
Here we go.
Standby, they're going to take us.
But there's a problem.
We've got audio problems with Terry Jessup.
What's wrong?
Terry, keep talking. We're having audio problems. Keep talking.
Do they need us to move somewhere?
Is there nothing we can do? We still have about a minute.
Do they want us to move somewhere?
Okay, Terry, at this point we're not taking a shot.
Although disappointed in not getting his full story across, Terry is used to the reality of local news.
It happens a lot in live television. I can't explain it. It's magic to me.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Larry Blunt.
And I'm Kathy Walsh.
They're doing it right now.
Terry can only listen on as the remnant of his story is aired.
Police do say most crime within Denver's homeless community is territorial, revenge-oriented, rarely directed at possession.
Somebody's seeing something, but ain't nobody saying nothing.
All five of the victims were homeless, all struck with a blunt object, all killed in Lodo, most within sight of Coors Field.
And while the police won't even say the murders are linked, Denver's homeless hang close to the downtown shelters, adding fear as another thread in their too common web of problems.
As another day draws to a close, KCNC viewers learn that a killer is still at large.
You've experienced trauma life in the ER, taken part in a baby story. Now live through a busy night on the maternity ward. Tonight at 8 on TLC.
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Denver, Colorado. A commercial center for the Rocky Mountain region.
A haven for those seeking a more wholesome lifestyle.
But the mile-high city is facing a menacing problem.
Five homeless men have been bludgeoned to death downtown.
KCNC-TV closely monitors every development.
News 4, this is Doug. Yes, hi.
Finally, there's a break in the case.
The only little kid with this one homicide.
He's a 20-year-old transient who is the suspect.
It turns out that there's more than one suspect.
Police have made three arrests in connection with one of the homeless murders from September.
The suspects, Nathan Harrison, Thomas Holden and Chris Ball,
are just three among hundreds of young homeless in Denver.
For many of them, their only home is downtown 16th Street Mall.
The locals have given these young homeless a name, the Mall Rats.
There's going to be a bunch of Mall Rats come down the hallway here in just a little while.
I have to get in front of these guys and back them and hopefully not hit a wall.
In addition to the three murder suspects, five other so-called Mall Rats have been arrested for attacks on older homeless.
As to their motive, there are only speculations.
Hi, Alan. This is Chris Schaubel again.
Reporter Chris Schaubel has been closely covering the story of Jared Atadero,
the boy who disappeared while hiking in the mountains.
When did you become aware of it?
Now, from the boy's father, Chris gets a potential lead.
Park ranger Mesa Verde says he saw Jared Atadero with an unknown male figure
three days after he first became missing.
That's what I have to do, a phone her and find out.
If this turns out to be a good tip, Jared may still be alive.
Sunday, after Jared became missing, a park ranger spotted a man and a young child
in a hazardous area of Mesa Verde where there are age restrictions.
He went over to him, pointed this out, said you need to go into a safer area.
The little boy wanted to grab his hand repeatedly.
Never had that happen to him in the three years that he's been there.
He remembers thinking that was odd.
The next morning, the man and the boy are there at the park again,
which he again thinks is odd. Why would these people be at the park at 9 a.m.?
You guys discuss. That's everything I have.
My question is, is the dad just trying to keep the story out there?
And the answer to that, I'll just tell you right now, is yes.
The question is, is what he's saying valid?
Although Chris is excited to do the story, the producer and the news director have reservations.
Yeah, it's a theory, but how often with missing children cases do we report theories?
We haven't.
We've got to get somebody who's willing to put their face on it
and say that they think that this is a possibility,
apart from kids' father who was looking for any reason to keep the kid alive.
Hi, Craig. My name's Chris Schaubel with Channel 4 out of Denver.
How are you tonight? Tell me what you saw.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're a park ranger at Mesa Verde.
Gotcha.
Chris finally hears the ranger's account of the sighting.
In your mind, on a scale of, say, 1 to 10, 10 being that's Jared Atadero, where would you fall?
He says 7.
What is our story right now?
I mean, if you were going on that, what is the lead to your story right now?
If you were really going to just hit it in a simple sense,
Jared Atadero may not be dead and in fact may have been abducted.
Even with suspects in custody, the motive behind the homeless murders remains a puzzle.
You've got the cop saying, no, it's not a turf war.
The cop saying it's not a turf war.
And then we read in the paper the next morning the exact opposite of what they tell us every day.
I can't believe everything they're reading with you.
Keeping up with the investigation of the homeless murders has become a team effort.
I'm Rick Salinger.
I'm a reporter at KCNC-TV where I've been for the past six years.
Rick Salinger is assigned to look into a rumor that the murders stem from a turf battle.
You've got two generations.
You've got the younger homeless.
You've got the older homeless.
And apparently we don't know the reason why,
but the younger homeless are preying on the older ones and five people are dead.
Stacey, did you see that the charges were filed?
The people that are being charged have been characterized as mall rats.
The so-called mall rats have made quite an impression on Rick.
I've run into these people that usually wear a lot of jewelry in their noses and their ears and their mouths,
punk-type haircuts, and are usually quite inhospitable.
Rick heads to the 16th Street Mall to interview some of the younger homeless.
Last time I was down here I tried to talk to these people and they threw pop cans at me.
So I guess Don's going to have to be my bodyguard.
Hi, Rick Salinger, Channel 4. Anything going on with these guys?
Rick learns that the young homeless have been kicked off a park and onto an adjacent sidewalk.
What do you think of the cops making everybody leave from down there?
It's just plain harassment. It's a public park. People should be able to sit.
It's because they consider us undesirable.
Do you know the guys that have been arrested?
I don't know them very well. I know a couple of them.
Tommy and Alex were both my friends. In the paper I read that they had no proof.
Alex and Tommy were a part of it.
Do they have some problems with the older homeless people?
No. No.
Well, as one would expect, they're rejecting the notion that their friends may have been responsible.
Three, two, one. While police have their who...
Hi!
Hey, Don!
Hi!
Hi.
What's up, Don?
Are we okay now?
Yeah.
While police believe they have their who, they're still not sure of the why the murders of the homeless people took place.
And they're rejecting suggestions that this may have been a turf war.
Whatever the motive may be, Denver's older homeless are resting more easily with the suspects behind bars.
Now it seems like they're pretty much back to normal concerns.
How cold will it be tonight? Where can I get some shelter if I have to?
As a whole, the homeless population tend to be survivors.
Jared's family thinks he's been kidnapped.
I've got a park ranger to back up that theory.
Chris has gotten the go-ahead to do a story on a possible sighting of Jared at Adaro, and he's feeling the pressure.
There's a lot of things at stake with this story, credibility, embarrassing the station, embarrassing even the family of Jared at Adaro.
I just gotta be focused, accurate, and I'll be fine.
There is no sign of Jared.
The only sign in the mountains was a child's footprints mixed with the tracks of a mountain lion.
The man that found those tracks, he followed the mountain lion four ways, and he said,
there's no sign of a struggle, there's no blood, he said, Alan, that cat never saw your son.
Alan at Adaro believes that the boy the ranger saw may have been Jared.
The ranger was talking about how much this little boy wanted to hold his hand, and that's exactly what Jared would do.
He is a big-time hand-holder, big-time hand-holder.
He says on a scale of one to ten, he gives it a seven.
I tell you what, being a teacher 70 percent passes to me.
See, I felt all along that they're looking more for reasons to stop looking for Jared than they are to keep looking for Jared.
Alan at Adaro is convinced that the authorities dismissed the importance of the sighting too quickly.
They keep telling me probability is the least probability.
Well, when you ask me about probability, what was the probability that that was the last day I'd see my son,
I'd have told you it's very small.
Now Chris has to get another perspective.
Hi, Sheriff.
That of the county sheriff who led the search.
When it comes to balance, I have to have equal sentences, equal sound bites from the people who are on the opposing side.
This boy that was seen at that time didn't act like he'd been crying, didn't act like he was fearful.
If somebody were to have abducted Jared, it would be very unlikely that they would then expose him to a public view.
I've never heard of anybody abducting somebody and then parading him around.
As he listens to the sheriff, Chris comes to a realization.
Whether or not that boy was Jared at Adaro, even after a bunch of research, I don't think we're ever going to know.
Getting this tired of this story is weird.
Well, I wish something would resolve it.
Park Ranger says he may have seen Jared at Adaro just one day after he first became missing.
Trouble is this raises more questions than answers.
Although not optimistic about Jared's fate, Chris knows that his story will console a father who's lost his son.
It's good that it's out there. I think Mr. Adadaro's happy it's out there.
For Jared's father, news his son may have been kidnapped is actually a relief.
To this day, Jared at Adaro has not been found.
In the news business, each day brings a new story.
We've now hit the highest level of fire preparedness.
Chris heads to the suburbs to report on the dangers of a brush fire.
I sense fire. Fire. Fire.
Back in the newsroom, a bigger story is breaking.
Should we pull in a night person here? I mean, I think this story is big and suspicious. They got a horseback search going out there.
Is it over Shabal's story? Pull him in.
Call this ASAP. No one.
Do you have a phone that I could call ASAP? They're changing my story.
Watch this. Okay, we're on our way. Bye.
Homeless body. Coors Field.
Can I come in?
19th and Chestnut.
This is like the same exact area that they found like four others over the last couple of months.
With breaking news that another body of a homeless man has been found.
All how this broke loose actually.
KCNC newsroom kicks into high gear.
It's just a
talk to the PIO. They're saying it is a homeless, another homeless person, a male, but they have no cause of death as of right now.
They are still working the scene. Bob Burks on his way out there.
Cameraman Bob Burke is first to arrive.
At the scene, there is a massive police presence.
Just this morning about 1130, we got a call on a body in the field behind us here. In the process of investigating that particular death, we came upon another body north of where the first body was located.
Two dead. Yeah, it sounds like there's a second dead one. 17th and Chestnut and 19th and Chestnut.
Yeah. Right on top of each other. This is the original body they found, right? It's the same body.
It's two blocks down from the other one. That's got my little fibers. I only have three hairs left, but you know they're kind of standing up on my head. If you know what I'm saying.
We don't know if it's a murder or if it's an overdose. It's just two dead bodies found. So at this point, we're just treating it as an investigation.
As the only available reporter in the field, Chris Schaubel races to the scene.
Just now they found another one while searching the area.
I need to respond to 19th and Chestnut. That's where we're going.
When the stuff is hitting the fan, I love to rock and roll. You get that camera going and I'll show our audience live exactly what's going on.
Norm, is this a fluid situation? Extremely.
How long do you think it would take you to make Coors Field?
Schaubel's 45 minutes out, so he can't be there in the five minutes a reporter can.
With the news of a second body, KCNC wants a reporter at the scene immediately.
Pat Berry is on his way up the street. He'll be down front. He'll just need a reporter to go with him.
Brian's working the phones on the murders, so. They're not murders yet.
I'll go if you want to check out the area. Yeah, go. Brian will go.
Crime reporter Brian Moss is pulled from the newsroom.
Aren't the suspects in some of these murders in jail right now?
Supposedly. They all went to court yesterday. They're all still in jail.
Supposedly. Either copycat or maybe they had the wrong people. How about that?
Woo!
First body, I guess, is over there.
From his police contact, Brian gets confirmation of what everyone already suspects.
807 and 809 are a swap. The homeless bodies just became murders.
The mall rage. We will not be stopped.
Someone's out there. Black and homeless people.
Even with news breaking, work on other stories continues.
Hi, it's Rick Selinger, reporter at Channel 4. Is Mr. Sturney all there, please?
In the newsroom, there are two kinds of stories.
Enterprise versus non-Enterprise. Non-Enterprise cover an event.
The trial date has been set, yeah.
Enterprise, you dig and you find the information.
And you make the story out of the facts that you get.
As an investigative reporter for KCNC... Oh, they're going to love hearing from me.
Rick Selinger, for the past four months, has been putting together a special series on sex offenders in the Denver area.
Can you do me a favor if you're going to the Pure Yellows Police Department? Sure.
Ask them if they have a sex offender registration list, and if they do, could you pick it up for me?
We've been gathering the list of registered sex offenders, and then putting a pin where each of these sex offenders lives.
This is the Capitol Hill area of Denver. It's virtually populated with registered sex offenders.
Most people don't realize that they're living right there in their own neighborhoods, and so we're going to put these maps on the TV,
and I think a lot of people are going to be shocked.
Rick's ultimate goal is not to shock the viewers, but to inform them of their rights.
A list of registered sex offenders is made available by law,
yet most people don't even know that that law exists or that they have a right to that list.
If I would have had any idea that my neighbor was a sexual predator,
I would have paid a lot more attention to my daughter outside the yard.
Earlier this year, these people who had a little girl and didn't know they had a registered sex offender living two doors down,
and this man tried to break into the house and molest the girl.
So they got a copy of the sex offender registration list and were shocked to learn their neighborhood was just infested.
And they then took it on themselves to pass it around all over their neighborhood so their neighbors would know where these people are.
Getting the word out is exactly what Rick wants to do.
What we're doing is we're telling people what we know about a particular situation.
But we have these tools to do it on a mass scale, and that places a heavy responsibility on our shoulders.
I have victimized people.
That responsibility includes protecting the sex offenders themselves.
We're not revealing the exact locations of where they live.
It could invite vigilanteism.
In fact, there was a case in Texas where a person was beaten because that address appeared on the list.
Turns out he wasn't the offender.
Just say behind Union Station.
Nobody knows where 19th and Chestnut is, but say behind Union Station. People know what that is.
Brian, just a little bit this way.
Reporter Brian Moss is at the scene where the bodies of two homeless men have been found.
He stands by, ready to go live.
People, we got a murder scene to go to. You've got a boogie.
Even with Brian already at the scene, Chris is still needed on the story.
It's a big story. Someone's continually killing homeless people.
And apparently it's not just the people they already have in custody.
Jeff, the producer, please talk to me.
Hi, Brian Moss. Can you hear me? This is Jeff.
OK, Jeff, I'm ready to go. How soon are you coming to me?
But Brian can't break into the 4 o'clock news already in progress.
I was told to get on the air as soon as possible, Jeff. We ran out here and set everything up.
We are not taking Brian live until he comes to town.
Why? Why can't we do this?
We want to get him up and on the bus on because that's what he's led with and we've got to get that on.
The managing editor is reluctant to preempt another story.
Four o'clock doesn't seem interested in this, which is a bunch of belowies.
And we're the only ones that can go live with this right now.
Nobody else is there. Why can't we do this?
Most nights, every station is leading with the same story.
So being there first helps you get a leg up on everyone else because they're going to be there sooner or later.
Mike, Mike, Mike, news base on Channel 5.
Be prepared. We are going to come to you soon.
Back in the newsroom, they've decided to break into the 4 o'clock newscast.
We have breaking news to report to you right now.
Brian Moss is standing on the scene out at 19th and Chestnut.
What's going on out there, Brian?
Larry, this is a major breaking story right now behind Union Station in Denver.
Two bodies were found in these fields behind me.
I've been told by Denver police sources each of these appears to be a carbon copy of the other.
And obviously there is a major and dramatic search going on behind me right now.
As more officers arrive to join the search, Brian learns exactly what they're looking for.
Hello, Jackie Brian. They're searching for these guys' heads.
That's what they're looking for.
Both may have been decapitated.
Whoa.
It's crazy. It's really crazy.
Just a little thank you note to my dentist.
ATT&CK Online. The rules are changing.
The Denver police search the field where the bodies of two homeless men have been found.
Word spreads among the reporters that the murder weapon may have been recovered.
KCNC reporter Brian Moss tries to get a confirmation.
Hey, Tony. They found a shovel out here.
They thought at first it might be the murder weapon.
A shovel?
But the police are not forthcoming.
I don't know. I don't know that either. I don't know anything about a shovel.
Reporter Chris Schaubel finally arrives at the scene.
That brings to seven the number of homeless men found murdered in this field.
That brings to seven the number of homeless men found murdered in Denver in the past three months.
Police are reluctant to draw conclusions.
Thanks, Brian Moss.
Chris will relieve Brian.
I'll listen to your shot and I'll just rip off your M-gun.
Okay.
And report on the continuing investigation.
How come you guys aren't calling it a serial killer?
What does that mean? Tell me what that means.
It means repetitive murders of a similar person.
By an MO.
I don't think we're going to take that step.
You all want us to take that step, but we're not going to take that step yet.
I mean, how many people have to die before they call it serial killing?
You know, if there were seven people in the Cherry Creek area, we'd be calling them serial killings.
When we speak of sexual predators, is the word interchangeable with sexual offenders?
Reporter Rick Salinger has gathered all the sex offender registration lists he needs for his story.
In some of these places, you can't get the list of registered sex offenders unless you live in that city.
So Carol was kind enough to get me the list for the city where she lives.
And I found out there were sex offenders living in the apartment building two doors down from me.
And how does that make you feel?
Not very comfortable.
35 to 40 South Hampton Street, right there.
Part one of Rick's story will air tonight, and two station interns have volunteered to help plot out the map he will use.
These are all the registered sex offenders in the Denver metro area.
Anything from incest to sexual assault to rape, to anything.
There's like five and six in some houses.
There's like 16 that live two doors down from me.
Yeah.
I mean, look at it. It's just completely crazy.
How many do you think we have?
Thousands. There's thousands of them.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, I love that shot.
I love that shot.
In preparation for the broadcast, Rick's cameraman has devised a special way to shoot the map.
What Don has done here is hooked up a very neat little camera we call lipstick cam.
This is high tech equipment. We've put the map on top of a trash can.
OK, I'm going to eject you from the room, Rick.
Oh, I'm sorry.
The shots will show all the registered sex offenders in the greater Denver area, neighborhood by neighborhood.
If I had any idea how much work this would be, I would have thought about it twice before suggesting it.
This always happens to me.
Great idea. This shouldn't be too hard. And it just turns out to be massive.
It's pretty amazing. You have to wonder if it's a copycat deal.
If someone's saying you got the wrong guys.
I mean, I'm sure the cops are wondering all of these theories.
And, I mean, the decapitation is just unbelievable.
How long do they think the bodies were there?
OK, they might be out all night.
All they said was less than a week.
But then now they're saying at least one of them could be more than a week.
Police are even saying they don't know how the timelines work out.
Whether or not the people who are in custody now were already in custody before these guys were dead.
The grisly nature of the murders has left Chris with a dilemma.
They're still searching for evidence, and we know that evidence includes the heads.
However, we're intentionally not reporting that, at least right now.
They might be bringing hounds out here. The truck just pulled up the dogs in it.
Where's the hound dogs?
They have to pick up the right...
Hey, Chris.
They're going to be here all night looking for these heads.
Angie told us not to report it at five. Has that been discussed again?
I think it's an element of the story, so go ahead and go with it. I've talked to Angie.
That makes my story much stronger.
I mean, I'll put it as delicately as possible.
So, they're looking for their heads.
I take my work seriously, but I don't take myself seriously.
In the shadows of the Pepsittown, near Crossfield, are killer leks.
Whoa.
If we didn't laugh, some of the stuff we cover would make us cry.
They're looking for clues. They're not only looking for a murder weapon or weapons.
They are also, and shockingly, we've learned, looking for the heads of the decapitated victims.
When they hear that, they're going to jump out of their seat.
There's something about a man putting on makeup that just doesn't seem right.
Back at the station, Rick gets ready for the big broadcast.
Well, I look like one of the people in the mug shots that we're going to show if I don't do this.
Just hope I don't flub this.
Here we go.
Thank you.
Man, these homeless murders are terrible.
Trade letters.
Rick has last-minute jitters about his story.
I honestly don't know what kind of a reaction we're going to get.
I'm very nervous about it, too. I don't want to set off a panic.
Colorado lags behind other states in making sex offender registration lists available to the public.
News Force Rick Salinger joins us with a frightening story of why parents need this information.
Some 7,000 convicted sex offenders live in Colorado.
Among them, a man with a very chilling story to hear.
I sexually assaulted students as a teacher.
How many?
In my life, or students. In my life, 70.
In Colorado, the law requires sex offenders to register with police.
But in almost all cases, the police aren't required to notify you where they live.
So where do all those registered sex offenders live? Let's look closer.
The area from 6 to Colfax, Broadway, with those convicted of sex crime.
On the west side of Denver, News 4.
You can see the map we put together on our website, which is kcncnews4.com.
Thanks, Rick.
After months of work, Rick is relieved to have his story finally on the air.
I guess the reaction will come in different ways. We'll just have to see what happens.
Time to take a look at Colorado weather.
Fifty-three right now at DIA, fifty-one downtown.
Northwest winds right now sustained winds at 22 miles per hour.
They're going to bring in 50 detectives at least, campus the entire area.
Terry Jessup is on scene where the bodies of two more homeless men have been found.
These guys have been dead for a week. One guy has been dead a figure of three.
Denver police have evacuated the homeless who frequently sleep in this field.
I just can't believe no one found them until yesterday.
And continue their exhaustive search for evidence.
What's the tractor for?
Tractors have been brought in to clear the overgrown area.
What have they found so far?
Well, I can't discuss what evidence we have or haven't found or what evidence we're currently looking for.
And how do you identify the victims when they were decapitated?
Well, at this point, a lot of this depends on what happens at the coroner's office.
But he wouldn't confirm whether they recovered the heads, would he?
Even a veteran reporter like Terry is struck by the horror of these crimes.
We have an angry, angry society out there in the street.
I slept out here myself.
Anger has spread to the very people who are being targeted.
What's your connection to this? Are you homeless?
I'm homeless. I'm Polak.
Any theory on who's behind this?
We think it's them f----- clowns in the mall. They killed four of my friends.
That's bullsh-t. You know what? Homeless people, we're going to get together, a bunch of winos.
We're going to go find these little f-----s.
You think not? I'm going to tell you straight out, this is Polak talking straight up.
We got a jillion f-----s.
Denver police finally call off the search of the field where the bodies of the two homeless men were found.
These bodies have everyone wondering about possible connections to the five earlier murders.
Three men are in custody in connection with a previous homicide.
However, they have lawyers and they are not expected to be saying anything further to police.
We'll have to wait and see.
The three suspects in one of the previous murders are awaiting trial.
I would suspect that somebody is going to talk at some point once they start the plea bargains.
If the evidence is strong in the other murder, they may find out more about this one.
I think they will solve this.
The investigators are not so optimistic, given the victims' transitory lives.
It's tough to find relatives. It's tough to find even peers because the peer group is so transient.
And so that's, I think, what makes it a little difficult to investigate.
There must be somebody who was just so teed off that they were blaming it on some homeless guys beforehand.
And he says, I'm a cold-blooded killer, I'll show you.
The mounting death toll has left the city in a state of disbelief.
The mayor won't say anything earthshaking, I'm sure, but he will say quite a lot.
10-31, the time. This is Mike Rosen with Mayor Wellington Webb.
Two more bodies found. The count is now seven.
At a local radio station, Denver's mayor announces that he's appealing for help from the FBI.
After these two new bodies were found, as well as the decapitation, I said I think we probably ought to kick it up and get additional assistance to support us.
Well, Bill, we do know that that assistance will include processing any forensic evidence that they may have recovered.
Although one officer did tell me they did not recover anything that appeared to be a murder weapon, nor did they recover any parts of bodies.
With no immediate leads, a long and difficult investigation lies ahead for the Denver police.
In the East, 7,000 convicted sex offenders live in Colorado.
They want me to do what I did at 10 o'clock last night. They liked it so much that they want me to do it again at 4 o'clock.
Rick's sex offender story has got the whole town talking.
I was on the radio this morning to talk about the series, and then these maps just got a tremendous response.
I even got a call from the mayor's office today, but...
The reactions from the viewers are pouring in.
We're going to read some of these on the air.
I watched your special on sex offenders. When you went through the photos, I was sickened when I recognized one of the pictures.
It appears as though he may be one of our employees, which is around my children quite often.
We don't live in a vacuum.
I'm deeply disturbed by the way your promo seems to be inciting a witch hunt.
We live in a world with all these things going on around us, and to only know about what's happening in your particular life cuts you off from these things that could affect you.
What right do you have to invade the privacy of those people by shooting?
Every story is different. You can have a good story for different reasons.
Have a good evening. See you tomorrow.
I think a good story is one that people will say, oh, I'm glad he told me that. That's interesting.
We're actually driving through this two-square-mile crime scene.
The field behind Union Station is once again open to the public.
I'll be back, Josh.
Terry wants to talk to any homeless who may have returned.
I'm sure if the weather stays mild, there will be people sleeping back out here tonight.
There's a hobo camp.
This is strange that someone without a home would leave something like this.
A Bible. That's nice to see.
Nickels, dimes, quarters. Well, you would think someone would be coming back to this, wouldn't you?
This will all be skyscrapers someday.
Even with Denver's changing landscape, Terry knows that the homeless will always be part of the city.
Every person out there has a story. Somebody's uncle.
When people say they're homeless, they're trained to have no roots.
It may not be very pleasant, but it is a story.
Thank you.