Durango police arrested a Fort Lewis College student after he attempted to bribe others to kill a fellow student in exchange for $500, authorities said Monday.
Jackson Keller, 19, was taken into custody Thursday and booked into La Plata County jail in Durango on suspicion of criminal solicitation for first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon on college grounds, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said.
Officers with the Fort Lewis College police launched the investigation a day before the arrest after receiving a phone call from an on-campus dorm about the alleged murder plot.
One student told police that Keller had asked him to kill a fellow student at the college after Keller got upset over that student leaving hair in the shower, according to court documents. The two lived in the same building and could access each other’s rooms through the bathrooms.
When the student refused to join the murder plot, he saw Keller FaceTime with three men who were handling rifles and handguns on the call and transfer the money through CashApp. The men, who were from Colorado Springs, told Keller they could arrive in Durango in seven hours, court documents said.
The student who was allegedly being targeted called police after the other student informed him of the plot.
When college police and CBI investigators confronted Keller, he denied any murder plot, but admitted he had been upset with the student for leaving hairs in the bathroom and said he had confronted him about it. He also told police he believed that whomever reported him was friends with the student and they were “conspiring against him.”
The student who was being targeted said Keller brought a handgun into his room in December, police said.
Keller initially agreed to show investigators his phone, but after speaking to his father, Keller said he would no longer answer questions without an attorney, court documents said.
Keller was released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond, court records show.
He appeared in La Plata County court Monday afternoon where his attorneys requested he be able to return to his father’s home in Tampa, Florida, and attend court hearings virtually. A different judge will decide at a court hearing scheduled for later this month, during which prosecutors are expected to file formal charges against Keller.
CBI said there is no ongoing threat to the campus community.
This article will be updated when additional information is available.
