A Douglas County jury has convicted 41-year-old Casey Childers of kidnapping and murdering 29-year-old Rachel Holeman in 2021. The District Attorney’s Office reports that the Aurora Police Department led the investigation and found Holeman’s body more than a month after her disappearance along an embankment off CO-83.

The coroner determined that the victim died from a gunshot wound to the head. Fort Collins Police took the initial missing person’s report. Holeman was allegedly in Colorado with Childers and co-conspirator Shantel Edlund to distribute drugs.

Once Fort Collins Police determined Holeman was last in Aurora, the case was turned over to APD. APD investigators believed that Holeman was kidnapped by Childers, Edlund, and 23-year-old Leo Vanbuskirk around November 6, 2021 near Colfax and Victor Street in a Chevrolet Malibu sedan.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies drove past the Malibu on November 7, 2021 and captured it on dashcam near South Parker Road and Russellville Road. One deputy ran the license plate and helped investigators link the vehicle and the location to Holeman’s disappearance.

Edlund, Childers, and Vanbuskirk were arrested by authorities in Sheridan, Wyoming on December 29, 2021 on unrelated drug charges and warrants. Authorities found Holeman’s body using the dashcam footage as well as statements made by Edlund.

Edlund pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Second-Degree Murder and was sentenced to 18 years. Vanbuskirk pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Second-Degree Murder and Second-Degree Kidnapping. He will be sentenced later this year.

Childers was identified as the shooter. He has been convicted of First-Degree Murder after Deliberation, Second-Degree Kidnapping, and Conspiracy to Commit Second-Degree Kidnapping.

Childers was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

 

Today, a jury in Douglas County convicted Casey Childers of kidnapping & murdering a woman back in 2021. The woman’s body was recovered by @dcsheriff more than a month after she was reported missing.
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— 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office (@DA18th) July 26, 2024