so no surprise said eric mullens of the world journal. invasion and killing at the candelario place was a big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. we didn t know who was out there. people like their neighbors, dina and mark. i was afraid. i didn t even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening because i was afraid to be out. a lot of people got guns. a lot of neighbors told me. i went out and got a gun. you know? i want to protect myself. everybody knew the candelarios had a nice house, filled with vintage treasures. there s a little jewelry that pam kept. this is her dresser. some of which were missing as ralph told the police during a videotaped tour. the television s gone. okay. the candelarios had been about to leave on vacation. so maybe the intruders thought they were gone and were surprised to find them at home. but who?
but i looked down the hall, and i could see pam s legs in the kitchen. that s when he ran out of the house and found his neighbor who called 911. of course, the world journal printed all that though the police weren t too happy about it. and eric mullens? i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didn t say that. and picking it back up again. but remarkable as ralph s letter was, it still wasn t the whole story. a few weeks after the murder, he mustered up the courage and told the police while he was held captive, he had asked to go to the restroom and he was sexually assaulted in the bathroom. why didn t he say anything about that before? his explanation was, that he was embarrassed. it might be a little bit difficult to talk about, but the smallest details could be very important, so keep that in mind. ralph agreed to show the investigators exactly what happened, and where.
said the world journal s eric mullens, the invasion and killing at the candelario s place was a very big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. we didn t know who was out there. reporter: people like the candelario s neighbors dena and mark. i was afraid. i didn t even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening, because i was afraid to be out. reporter: a lot of people got guns. a lot of neighbors told me, i went out and got a gun, you know? i want to protect myself. reporter: everybody knew the candelarios had a nice house filled with vintage treasures. there s a little jewelry in here, guys, that pam kept. this is her dresser. reporter: some of which were missing, as ralph told the police during a videotaped tour. well, the television is gone. okay. reporter: the candalarios had been about to leave on vacation so maybe the intruders thought they were gone and were surprised to find them at home. but who?
i m going to get my neighbor to help me here. [ knocking ] ralph, we re getting help for you, ralph. okay? reporter: the police arrived, went into the house with guns drawn. and there at the entrance to the kitchen, still in her nightgown, lay pam candelario, her head covered in blood. i knew she was dead when the ambulance showed up because they didn t go into the house. they just stayed and were working on ralph. reporter: ralph wasn t shot, but he was hurt. and he was airlifted to the nearest trauma hospital. walsenburg, as local reporter eric mullens knew, was not equipped to handle an investigation of this magnitude. you have small town departments with five, six, seven people, you don t have murder cops on staff. you don t have forensic professionals on staff. reporter: so by the time shannoarrived at thepital looking for her mother an agent of the colorado bureau of
over, but i looked down the hall and i could see pam s legs in the kitchen. that s when he ran out of the house and found his neighbor, who called 911. of course, the world journal printed all that, though the police weren t too happy about it. and eric mullens? i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didn t say that, and picking it back up again. reporter: but remarkable as ralph s letter was, it still wasn t the whole story. a few weeks after the murder, he mustered up the courage and told the police while he was held captive he had asked to go to the restroom and he was sexually assaulted in the bathroom. reporter: well, why didn t he say anything about that before? his explanation was that he was embarrassed. from my understanding, it might be a bit difficult to talk about but the smallest details could be very important so keep that in mind. reporter: ralph agreed to show the investigators exactly what happened.