Affidavit: Dane Kallungi admitted to ex-wife that he killed Jepsy Kallungi

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Over a light lunch during a brief return to Colorado Springs, Dane Kallungi calmly told his ex-wife that he killed his wife nearly two years prior. His ex-wife then led police to crack the case of Jepsy Kallungi's disappearance.

That's according to new court documents released to KRDO Tuesday. The new details reveal a harrowing conversation overheard by detectives in which Dane details how he killed Jepsy and disposed of her body in a remote area near Florissant in March of 2019.

An arrest affidavit detailed how police were able to make the case against Dane, who's currently facing a first-degree murder charge for the suspected killing of his wife, Jepsy. KRDO first reported Dane's arrest earlier this month.

Jepsy was reported missing in early April 2019 after family and friends hadn't heard from her in several days.

According to the arrest affidavit, police conducted interviews and spoke with Dane. During one conversation, Dane told investigators that he got in a fight with Jepsy on March 20, 2019, and that she had "left him" between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. Dane also said he found text messages on Jepsy's phone between her and someone named Travis that appeared to show the two planning to meet.

In mid-April, investigators talked to one of Dane's coworkers who said Dane had been acting differently in the week around Jepsy's disappearance. The coworker said Dane had begun sleeping in his car during lunch break and seemed to stop eating during the week of March 25. The coworker said Dane told him that he took Jepsy to a gym to work out on March 23 or March 24, but investigators later learned that Dane went to the gym alone.

Investigators then got Jepsy's cell phone data that showed her phone called 911 and hung up at 11:30 p.m. the night Dane said he fought with her. On March 21, her cell phone pinged to a tower in the Cripple Creek area until about 1:30 a.m. the next day. Then her cell phone connected to a tower near her apartment on March 23. On March 25, her phone connected to a tower near N. Academy and Union Boulevards and downloaded four messages. Police said Dane's phone connected to a tower near the same area about 20 minutes after Jepsy's phone downloaded those messages.

According to the affidavit, investigators later learned that Jepsy was having a sexual relationship with two Fort Carson soldiers, one of whom was named Travis. Investigators interviewed Travis and he said he picked Jepsy up on March 20, took her to his barracks, and then returned her to her apartment at about 9 p.m. Investigators verified that she was checked in at Fort Carson.

Investigators then traveled to San Diego, California in April 2019 after learning Dane went to California following Jepsy's disappearance. When a detective tried asking questions about the cell phone towers connecting to towers in the Cripple Creek area, Dane invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, according to the affidavit.

In the following weeks, investigators learned from Dane's ex-wife that he had reportedly strangled her "five to seven separate times." One of those incidents was corroborated by the victim's twin sister during an interview with police.

But two years passed before a break was made in the case.

It was on March 23, 2021 that a detective got a phone call from Dane's ex-wife. She said Dane emailed her and said he was going to be in Colorado Springs from March 25 through March 28 due to an illness in his family, and he wanted to get together for a conversation.

The conversation happened over lunch, according to the affidavit, and "Dane told his ex-wife that he killed Jepsy Kallungi."

Several days later, Dane's ex-wife set up a phone call with Dane while a detective was listening and recording.

Below is the transcript of statements made by Dane during the phone conversation, in which he admits to Jepsy's killing:

"I kind of like, I grabbed her and I guess it was just like a second where I got pissed off, but I didn't even feel that pissed off. It was like I just turned around and was like shut up and I was sick of it and I mean really, I was just was trying to like literally stop the words from coming out of her mouth for a second and then I realized that I did that for more than a second and..."

"It looked like I did some damage and I freaked out and it looked like she was suffering."

"Yeah, that's the part I think about still. It's looking at her eyes, you know."

"It was like, you know, I used to think about killing terrorists and it was like I don't know, I didn't want to kill some little girl. I wanted to kill terrorists."

"Yeah. I was, I wasn't sure if I had already killed her and it was like the stuff you see in the movies about how people die. That is so not even how it happens."

"I was thinking about that and I was also thinking about like what, you know, is she going to go to the hospital and..."

"Like she was already dead. It was just a matter of time and like I didn't want to watch her suffer anymore, but I didn't want to keep doing that and it was all just really bizarre because I meant it was like she was on the floor."

"I put her on the floor and it was like there was still some kind of breathing going on even though she was gone and I just, just regretted that."

"And no matter how much I tell myself that I didn't mean to or she was doing this and she was doing that and was like, you told me she was like basically a prostitute and I was like it doesn't matter. She still didn't deserve it."

"I don't even remember the exact details. I kind of got lost. I had her wrapped up in my car, in the trunk and ... I know it's like..."

"Yeah it's freaking weird, like sometimes I'm still going up, I can't believe I did that and I'm like there's no way I did that, but I did do that. So yeah, I drove to the like Florissant area on back road, got lost on like four different back roads and then found one where I could, I just went down and found a spot, dug a hole as deep as I could."

"I was digging until like 3 in the morning or something because it was like all muddy and really hard to dig in some places and I started freaking out. I'm like oh my gosh people are going to start driving through here because it's not middle of the night anymore so..."

"Yeah, she was in my trunk and then after work I drove to Florissant and found a spot and like I just stuffed her and...hold on a second...yeah, I went to Florissant and no, I like said goodbye to her before I put her in there and tried to apologize a million times."

Police obtained a warrant for Dane's arrest on June 1, and he was arrested weeks later in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He's still being held in custody.