DENVER — A murder suspect wanted in a Denver cold case dating back more than 25 years was extradited to Colorado and arrested last month.
Terri Turachack was 35 years old when she was found dead in her apartment on Oct. 5, 1996, along E. 17th Avenue between High and Race Streets. She had been strangled and suffered blows to her head, according to an arrest affidavit released by the Denver District Attorney’s Office Friday.
DNA taken the day of her murder was matched to Ricky Dawson, who was also 35 years old at the time. Murder charges were filed against Dawson in early 2023, according to a news release from the DA’s Office.
He was connected to the 1996 cold case on Aug. 8, 2004, when the Denver Police Crime Lab received a DNA match recovered from Turachak, according to the affidavit.
Investigators would later determine he was in custody at the Suwannee Correctional Institution in Florida, serving 25 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with a 2001 case there. Dawson is also suspected in a sex assault/murder case from 2000 from DNA evidence.
The now 62-year-old man was extradited from the correctional facility in Florida to Colorado and appeared in Court Thursday where he was advised of the charges against him: One count of first-degree murder after deliberation, a Class 1 felony; and one count of first-degree murder – predicate attempted sexual assault.
Dawson is scheduled to appear in Denver Court on March 23 at 8:30 a.m.
