An arrest has been made in a 36-year-old cold case shooting death of a businessman inside his Lone Tree home.
Local and state investigators used DNA evidence and genetic genealogy in the case to identify the suspect, 64-year-old Michael Shannel Jefferson, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Friday.
Jefferson, a New Orleans resident who was arrested in Los Angeles, was extradited Tuesday to Douglas County, where he is being held on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping. Jefferson was visiting family in California at the time of his arrest.
“It is very satisfying to know that we have technology today to use on evidence collected 36 years ago” that can lead to a suspect, Spurlock said.
In 1985, Spurlock was the lead investigator at the murder scene, the Lone Tree home of Roger Dean. The sheriff also worked on a 1990 extortion case in which Dean’s widow was victimized by a man who claimed to be the killer.
On Nov. 21, 1985, Dean, who was 51, was at home with his wife, D.J., when a masked intruder shot Dean six times during a robbery attempt. During the incident, the armed man threatened Dean at gunpoint, demanding money from a saving account. D.J. had her eyes covered with tape during the incident, and her hands were tied. She heard scuffling downstairs and shots fired. Dean’s body was found at the foot of their snow-covered driveway. The gunman fled the scene, leaving behind a ski mask that he had worn to conceal his identity.
In 2003, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation lifted DNA swabs from the ski mask, and a DNA profile was developed, according to an arrest affidavit in the case. A national database was searched for a match, but to no avail.
In 2018, the sample DNA was tested again, and a genetic snapshot was developed, the affidavit said. In November 2020, Michele Kennedy, a crime analyst in the sheriff’s cold case unit, made a link to the suspect through the DNA of his parents, who are deceased, according to the affidavit.
A DNA sample from Jefferson was obtained surreptitiously from a water bottle to compare to the mask sample, the affidavit said. Investigators seized the bottle during a commercial airline flight, on Feb. 17, after Jefferson gave it to a stewardess. The samples were deemed consistent. Investigators established that Jefferson lived in the Denver area in 1985 and that he had purchased several handguns that year.
A Douglas County warrant for Jefferson’s arrest was signed March 17.
Douglas County District Attorney John Kellner praised investigators for their long commitment to the case. “The level of dedication shown by law enforcement partners … is surely remarkable,” Kellner said.
Dean family members were at a news conference Friday but did not comment. Jefferson is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
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