WELD COUNTY, Colo. — One of Weld County's oldest cold cases recently saw a massive step forward when human remains found near along a river west of Platteville were identified.
The identification came more than 50 years after hunters reported finding skeletal remains from an area near the Saint Vrain River north of Highway 66 on Nov. 19, 1973. Investigators believed the remains belonged to a young woman, but had limited other information.
Skip forward to late 2024, when genetic genealogy helped the Weld County Sheriff’s Office finally identify the remains as Roxanne Leadbeater.
Late in the year, Pam Simek, who lives in Vermont, got a call from the sheriff's office about her first cousin. Investigators had tracked Simek down after they extracted DNA from Leadbeater's remains at Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley in early 2022 and completed a facial composite. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation created a family tree using websites like GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA to make the connection.
“When we found out she had gone missing, the stories that came around the family were one of sadness for Uncle John and Aunt Joan, but we just never knew what happened to her," Simek said.
While Simek never met Leadbeater, she always wanted to know more about her. It was a relief to finally have some answers, she told Denver7. Leadbeater's parents and brother are no longer alive for Simek to share this news with.
Weld County Sheriff’s Office Detective Byron Kastilahn was the one who called Simek to deliver the news. He explained that thanks to genetic genealogy, they had identified the woman as Leadbeater, who had been living in Los Angeles.
However, what she was doing in Colorado remains a mystery. Simek doesn't know of any Colorado connection. Kastilahn said Leadbeater was 15 when she came to Colorado, but for unknown reasons. Kastilahn said he cannot find any record of a missing person's report from the time.
The last known photo of Leadbeater was a yearbook photo from Lawndale High School, in Lawndale, California.
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Genealogy helping solve Colorado cold cases
Many unanswered questions still remain, like how she disappeared, when and why, and if somebody killed her or if she died of natural causes. But this is a good step forward in the case.
“It’s great. It gives me hope for other cases with this genetic genealogy,” Kastilahn said.
Simek is asking anybody who knows anything about Leadbeater's time in Colorado, or her death, to contact Weld County Det. Kastilahn at 970-400-2827.
In the 2021 special below, Denver7 examines multiple cases, detailing how law enforcement and prosecutors used the technology known as genetic genealogy to help solve cold case murders in Colorado.
