Nervous Neighbors Who Live Nearby Homicide

Nervous neighbors are hoping someone will clean up a field of problems near them off St. Elmo and Washington off South Nevada in Colorado Springs. Wednesday, 50 year old James Bidgood was found dead in a makeshift homeless camp. He was a homeless man who is now the 11th homicide in Colorado Springs, so far this year.

Bonny Morriss lives nearby this field and tells me, “I just want this area cleaned up and all this cleaned out.” I walked this field and saw empty alcohol bottles, old mattresses and even a new makeshift camp that included a tent, that tried to be hidden away in a clump of trees of the property. Angie Roach told me, “There’s a lot of this part of the neighborhood that’s not taken care of and it’s forgotten. People don’t realize something would happen here.”

Springs Police are still investigating Bidgood’s death and so far have no named suspects in the investigation or how or why Bidgood died.

I talked with Bob Holmes with Homeward Pikes Peak. It’s an organization that helps transition the homeless from living on the streets to finding permanent housing and jobs. Holmes told me that two years ago, there were 610 identified homeless chronic campers in Colorado Springs. He says 435 were helped off the streets. Holmes also said 175 of that group in 2010, didn’t want the help. Now, in 2012, Holmes believes there are between 225-240 chronic homeless campers in Colorado Springs.