CSPD Links Bones with 1996 Missing Person Case

COLORADO SPRINGS – CSPD investigators have discovered that the human remains found last year belong to a man from a 1996 missing person case.

DNA results matched Thomas “Richard” Saulsbury of Colorado Springs.  Saulsbury was 49 years old at the time of his disappearance/death.  At this time, the cause and manner of death has not been determined by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.

“Now that we know,” says Lt. David Whitlock, “The information is going to be a lot easier to follow-up, and detectives are now digging much deeper into the inquiry, trying to find out exactly what happened to him.”

Members of the Coroners Office coordinated the preparation of a forensic “bust” with facial features, based on some human bones found last March.   It was planned that this bust would be made public, and could perhaps lead to the identification of the individual.  Once completed, detectives from the Violent Crimes/Homicide Unit viewed the bust.  Detective Derek Graham, a tenured Homicide Detective since July of 1995, believed he recognized the bust from a missing persons case that was initiated in July of 1996.  Further checking occurred, and last month the remains were positively identified through DNA as Saulsbury’s.

On March 18, 2009, police went to 2120 Cheyenne Canyon Road regarding the discovery of some bones.  Personnel from the City of Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise were conducting a routine cleaning of a storm sewer catch basin at that location when they spotted the human remains.  Detectives and the Coroners Office then began the recovery of the skeletal remains.

“There’s some family members, and it’s great to give them some closure,” Whitlock explains.  “Now, we want to see if it was a criminal act.”

The investigation is continuing, and anyone with information regarding this inquiry is urged to contact the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719.444.7000.