11-21-25 *INTERVIEW* Oldest 'Cold Case' in Colorado with Weld County Deputy Byron Kastilahn

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Saw a story recently that caught my attention. Denver Post
has it, Greeley Tribune has it. Detectives hope classmates and
friends can help solve Weld County's oldest cold case death
and joining us talk about it is Weld County Deputy
Byron Castellon, and first of all, Byron, welcome, Happy Friday.

(00:23):
Thanks for joining us here on KOA.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Barnie Ross, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Tell us a little about this case, how cold is
it and why are you bringing specific attention to this
case now?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Now it's our oldest cold case with the Weld County
Sheriff's Office. Back on November nineteenth, nineteen seventy three, so
fifty two years ago, hunters found the remains of a
body on the banks of the Saint Brain River, which
was just north of Highway sixty six, about four miles
west of Platteville, Colorado. So there wasn't really any information

(01:01):
at the scene. There was no evidence other than her body,
and there were her clothes. She was wearing a red
sweater and brown pants, but no, she didn't match up
with any missing person that we had at the time,
so there really wasn't much information to go on, and
so the case file, you know, stay as active until

(01:23):
it's salt. In twenty twenty, I became a cold case
detective with the Sheriff's office and started looking at the case.
And around that same time, genetic genealogy started, you know,
became a thing that we could use. So using that,
we were able to identify her as Roxane led Better

(01:46):
from Wheredondo Beach area of California, near Los Angeles. And yeah,
so we're wanting to get information out there to the
public to see who might might have known her, know
anything about her. So I'm curious what caused the resurrection
of this case.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Was it that technology that said we may have a
better opportunity of being able to solve this cold case.
For sure, without genetic genealogy, I don't know what I
would have done with the case. It would have just
remained a Jane Doe. But with that technology we are
able to find her cousins out in Vermont and get
an identification on her. Unfortunately, her mother and father and

(02:31):
her brother are all deceased, so we weren't able to
get specific information about her. The cousins thought that she
was reported either as a runaway or a missing person
one of those. But I reached out to all the
law enforcement agencies in the Los Angeles area and they
didn't have any record of her.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
So let's see two quick questions, sort of nerdy questions
for you here. Where did the usable DNA come from?
Is one question, and then the other question is are
you is basically what you're talking about here, like submitting
DNA to something like twenty three in me or ancestry
dot com or this kind of thing that then says,

(03:11):
all right, based on your genes, we believe such and
such a person is your cousin.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, so the DNA came from her molars, so when
we exhumed the body, that's that's what we had to
do in order to get her DNA. And twenty three
in me and Ancestry aren't companies that provide public, you know,
law enforcement access, but jedmatch and family Tree DNA do,

(03:41):
and they let their customers know a lot of the
customers put their DNA in that system for this particular reason.
So their database is used to, you know, compare with
unknown human remains DNA to develop genetic genealogy.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
So last question for you, deputy, So what do you
want the public to know, and maybe more importantly, what
do you want the public to let you know?

Speaker 2 (04:16):
So yeah, like I said her, there's not much family
left for her, just the cousins. And I've reached out
to her high school that she went to to try
to get information. They've been pretty helpful. I've talked to
a lot of people that went to school with her.
Unfortunately they didn't get they didn't have, you know, too
deep of information about her. So that's what I'd like

(04:38):
to appeal is just any information that we can get
somebody who knew, maybe somebody knows why she was in Colorado,
because that's why, you know, we don't know how she
ended up in Colorado. When she was raised in the
Los Angeles area, she was fifteen years old. That's augh
young to be on her own in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
So yeah, information, right, And how can folks get in
touch with you if they have any any knowledge about
how Roxane Ledbetter got to Colorado fifty two years ago.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Certainly my phone number is ninety seven zero four zero
zero two eight six seven, and then my email is
be cast on at Weld go or sorry Weld dot gov.
And that's b K. A. S. T I. L A

(05:28):
h N at Weld dot Gov.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
I know the odds are not very high that someone
listening right now has this information, but if you know
anything about how this girl would have gotten and how
and why she would have gotten to Colorado fifty two
years ago, get in touch with Byron castle On. And
if you forget any of his contact information and get
in touch with me, and I'll put you in touch
with him. Deputy castle On, thanks so much for your time,

(05:51):
interesting story, and I wish you lots of luck. Keep
us posted. If you make some progress, well do thank
you very much, all right, thank you