Post by Joanna on Aug 21, 2014 2:01:00 GMT -5
1999 Disappearance of Colorado Father, Daughter and Employee Still Unsolved
THORNTON, Colo. – Paul Skiba attended Wayzetta High School in Minnesota, where he was born and raised. He was 19 when he relocated to Colorado with his girlfriend. He worked installing sprinklers for a while and was later employed by a moving company. After several years, the owner of the company retired and Paul and his cousin, Herbert Michael Hymes, took over the business and in 1998, Paul bought out Hymes. The business was called Tuff Movers and the firm frequently moved antiques as well as items for some of Denver’s luminaries and sports figures. Skiba made a good living and his mother, Sharon Skiba, left Minnesota to join her son in Colorado. Mother and son lived together in Thornton. Commenting on his son’s success, Carroll Skiba said: “Paul was a hard worker, very intelligent and a good guy. He was very personable, outgoing and conscientious.”
Paul Skiba enjoyed camping. He took his employees on camping outings at least once a year. He loved fishing and always carried tackle in his vehicle. He also liked to cook. In 1989, Skiba married Michelle Russell and they had a daughter, Sarah. When the couple divorced, Michelle retained custody of their daughter and Paul had weekly visitation rights. Skiba did not shirk his parental responsibilities and visited Sarah every Wednesday in Granby where he would rent a motel room so that Sarah could enjoy the pool. Father and daughter would then go out for dinner and he would take her to school the following morning. The two frequently went fishing.
Skiba loved Colorado. He often attended concerts at Red Rocks and enjoyed skiing. He also took Sarah tubing at Fraser. He had a good sense of humor and was generous to those in need. He also liked smoking marijuana, which he shared with friends and employees.
At the end of January 1999, Skiba’s mother returned to Minnesota for a funeral and on February 7, she received a telephone call indicating Paul and Sarah had disappeared. His girlfriend, Theresa “just knew something terrible had happened to Paul.”
Michelle, Sarah’s mother, told authorities, Sarah, then 9½-years-old, was last seen with her father. The Grand County Sheriff issued a warrant for Paul Skiba’s arrest. Thornton police listed Paul Skiba as a missing person. Lorenzo Chivers, one of Skiba’s employees was also listed as missing.
Then a strange scenario unfolded. A neighbor informed the family that Paul and his girlfriend had a big fight in which he told her to get out. It was now a week since Paul, Sarah and Lorenzo were last seen on a moving job in Morrison.
Sharon Skiba returned to Thornton and went to the storage lot, located near 72nd and Raleigh, with her son’s best friend, a man named Rich. There was a new lock on the gate and Rich climbed the fence and walked up to the truck, moving a board away from the side. The truck had been pierced by two bullets and there were blood smears inside as well as a piece of human scalp. There was more blood outside the truck and what appeared to be human hair on the fender. Later, two shell casings were recovered from the lot. The police were called and several others, including Chivers’ family members, were notified and soon arrived at the scene. The storage lot was close to an auto repair business and an archery shop. Investigators learned that on the night of the disappearance, the truck had left the yard around 9 p.m. and returned about midnight. Additionally, family members and friends noticed that Skiba’s only functioning truck was not parked quite the way he would have parked it. “Paul was adamant that the moving truck always be parked in a certain position and the way it was found was pulled nose-in and not back-in,” Sgt. Pat Long the original investigator on the case, said. “Everyone knows he was anal about the way that truck was parked.”
DNA analysis indicated both the blood and piece of scalp inside the vehicle belonged to Paul Skiba. The blood outside the truck was that of both Paul and Sarah and the hair on the fender was Sarah’s.
“We know they had two moving jobs that day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon,” said Long. The second job was for a man who lived in Morrison, Colorado. Skiba, his daughter and Chivers left Morrison between 5 and 5:30 p.m. to return the moving truck to the Westminster parking lot where Skiba stored his vehicles. On the way, a 12-year-old relative of Paul Skiba’s girlfriend received a call from Sarah, who said they were on their way to return the truck and would then be home.
When Michelle Russell called police, they initially thought they were dealing with a parental abduction, even though Chivers was also missing. “It was almost three weeks after that that I became involved,” said Long. “I think we lost some key evidence during the initial time that passed at the scene.”
Police theorized the murders took place at the lot and the killers then loaded the bodies into the truck, disposed of them, then returned the truck to the lot. The bodies of Paul and Sarah Skiba have never been found and Chivers – who had a daughter the same age as Sarah – hasn’t been seen since.
If you have any information regarding any element of this crime, please contact Sgt. D. R. Lester at 303-430-2400, ext 4226.
Sources: Michael Roberts, Denver Westward, August 20, 2014, and CNN
