More than two decades after the slaying of Colorado Springs s Jennifer Watkins, investigators using advanced DNA technology have identified Ricky Severt as her killer. But while Severt was never punished by the criminal justice system, he couldn t escape karma: He was killed in an automobile accident two years to the month after Watkins s disappearance.
Jennifer Lee Watkins (nee Skinner), 23, was the second of four children. Her youngest brother, Joseph, was closest to her heart. Jennifer graduated from Hanover (CO) High School. She liked to hang out with friends and she loved her animals. Jennifer enjoyed volley-ball and wanted to help people. She loved music and played clarinet in the school band. Jennifer wanted to be a nurse. It was after she enrolled in Barnes Business College in Denver that Michael Watkins, with whom she had gone to grade school, moved in and her life went downhill from there, according to her mother, Irene Skinner. Michael had problems with drugs. Jennifer