Third suspect convicted in 2021 kidnapping, murder of Rachel Holeman in Colorado

The third and final suspect has been convicted in the 2021 kidnapping and murder of Rachel Holeman. Deputies found her body more than a month after her disappearance.

It all started when police in Fort Collins took a missing person's report that revealed Holeman, 29, was in Colorado with Casey Childers, 41, and co-conspirator Shantel Edlund, for purposes of distributing drugs. The Fort Collins Police Department determined that Holeman was last seen in Aurora and the investigation was turned over to the Aurora Police Department. 

Investigators in Aurora later determined that Holeman was kidnapped by Childers, Edlund and a third co-conspirator, Leo Van Buskirk, 23 around Nov. 6, 2021 near Colfax Avenue and Victor Street in a Chevrolet Malibu sedan. 

On Nov. 7, 2021, Douglas County deputies responded to an unrelated burglary call and drove past the Chevy Malibu near South Parker Road and Russellville Road. It was captured on dashcam video. 

One of the deputies ran the license plate of the Chevy which later helped investigators connect the car and location to Holeman's disappearance. 

More than a month later, on Dec. 29, 2021, police in Sheridan, Wyo. conducted a traffic stop on the same Chevy sedan which was registered to Edlund. During that traffic stop, police arrested Edlund, Childers, and Buskirk on unrelated drug charges and warrants.

Based on statements Edlund made, along with the dashcam footage, the Aurora Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, and Douglas County's Search and Rescue Team flew a drone over the surrounding area along an embankment off South Parker Road and found Holeman's body.

The coroner's report determined Holeman died from a gunshot wound to the head. 

"The evidence shows this defendant senselessly murdered and left her body in a remote part of the county where he thought no one would find her," Senior Deputy DA Corrie Caler said in a statement. "Fortunately, an alert deputy responding to a different call took the time to run a plate which helped narrow down the search area for Rachel." 

Edlund pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 18 years in the Department of Corrections. Vanbuskirk pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping with sentencing set for later this year. Childers, who was identified as the shooter, was convicted by a jury on first-degree murder after deliberation, second-degree kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping. Childers was sentenced on Thursday afternoon to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the first-degree murder charge.