Man sentenced to life in prison for killing Colorado Springs woman nearly 40 years ago

A Colorado Springs man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of killing a woman in 1976.

On September 3, 2014, a jury found Robert Baillie, 58, guilty of first-degree murder in the December 3, 1976 death of Janet Conrad, 34.

Baillie was sentenced to life in prison on September 12, 2014. He will be eligible for parole after serving ten years.

“I was 10 years old (when it happened),” said Ray French, the youngest of Conrad’s four sons, after the verdict. “I remember the officers coming to my house. I feel relief. I studied criminal justice (because of this). Being able to forgive is a hard thing to do. But I know not to hold bitterness.”

Conrad’s body was found in a 10th-floor laundry room of the then-Antlers Plaza Hotel. Police said that Conrad was either strangled or suffocated, and was bound, gagged, nude below the waist, and was sexually assaulted.

“She struggled and fought,” said prosecutor Jennifer Viehmann during closing statements. “This was justice for Janet, her family and her children. It was a very important verdict today.”

The case went cold until 2009, when the Colorado Springs Police Department applied for and received a $464,724 federal grant to re-examine unsolved “cold” sexual assault and homicide cases.

DNA evidence on Conrad led investigators to Baillie. He was arrested in January 2013.

Baillie’s attorney, Dennis McGuire, disagreed with the verdict and plans to appeal.

“Two-thirds of a DNA profile shouldn’t have been enough for a conviction,” he said. “And the person who did the crime would have had to know the layout of the hotel. Robert had never been (there) before.”

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for more than two hours in reaching their verdict.

Jessica Lott, Baillie’s niece, said her uncle has been estranged from his family for 30 years.

“I accept the verdict,” she said. “It’s not my job to judge anybody. I wanted him to know that someone was here for him. There has been no contact. This is the first time we’ve seen each other. I hope this brings our family together somehow. I’m going to stay in contact with him.”

Prosecutors dropped two habitual offender counts after the jury’s guilty verdict.