Colorado Springs Police use DNA evidence to solve year-old murder case
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- Thanks to DNA technology, police were able to arrest a suspect in the 2020 murder of a Colorado Springs woman.
On October 2, 2020, officers responded to a report of a disturbance near the intersection of Delta Drive and Hancock Expressway. At the scene, police found a man suffering serious injuries and a deceased woman in the road.
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, a man purposely ran over 37-year-old Chasta Rogers, killing her.
Monday, officers with the Fountain Police Department found and arrested Jeremy Dewayne Jones, 44. Jones is now in the El Paso County Jail, charged with the first-degree murder of Rogers.
According to court documents obtained by KRDO, Jones got into a fight with a man who was with Rogers in the parking lot of the 7/11 on Hancock Expressway.
After the argument, Rogers and the man jumped on their bikes and tried to ride away. However, police say Jones reportedly hit Rogers with his car. Police believe Rogers was dragged nearly a thousand feet before she came loose, a tow truck driver found her lying in the road.
In March, the CSPD released a surveillance photo of the driver's silver Toyota corolla to the public, asking for help identifying the suspect.
Help from the public wasn't the only way officers found Jones. Records show detectives found the suspect's wristwatch at the scene.
The CSPD ran a DNA test on the watch, it returned as a match for Jones, who was already in the collection system.
Jones was arrested on murder charges in Colorado Springs in 2018, but the case was later dropped.
According to police, not only was the DNA on the watch a match to Jones, videos of police bodycam at previous traffic stops showed Jones wearing the same watch.
The CSPD found the corolla in June, missing a side mirror, and covered in traces of blue paint that matched Rogers' bike.
In September, police tracked Jones through his phone records, where his cell phone pinged off a cell tower near the same 7/11 where the incident happened.
In addition to one count of first-degree murder, Jones faces one count of second-degree assault.
