North of Mancos, a Highland bull calf died from a presumed bullet wound in the shoulder in mid-June, but the case remains open with no charges.
On June 20 around 2 p.m., Deputy Michael Marston Jr. and Detective Ryan Liska of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office met at the property with one of the calf’s owners, Kaelan Everett, according to an incident report.
Everett showed the officers where the cattle was shot, about 80 yards from the road. Her husband, Walter Everett, had found the bull and used an ATV to drag the body to a backhoe to make a burial site, the report said.
The two law enforcement officers worked together to recover a bullet as the Everetts stood to the side, according to the report. Marston made incisions into the calf to find the bullet as Liska used a metal detector.
“No bullet was recovered from the calf,” the report read.
The report also noted that the Everetts said they have had issues with their northern neighbor.
Issues or not, all leads in the case have been exhausted, Sheriff Steven Nowlin told The Journal, and they have found no probable cause to charge anyone,
“There have been disagreements and verbal arguments over the irrigation ditch, access to the diversion box, and the amount of water diverted,” the report read.
“I have seen game camera footage of these arguments over the diversion box,” Marston wrote in the report.
Kaelen Everett had called 911 on June 12 and reported an incident between herself and neighbor Walter Jones.
The details of the incident described by Kaelen Everett, however, could not be verified by The Journal.
A deputy advised Kaelen Everett to get a protection order, which she proceeded to do, according to the report. Jones was served with a temporary restraining order related to the “incident at the gate” and his “continued aggressive nature” by a private process server on June 13, the report said.
Kaelan and Walter Everett confirmed details from the incident report but declined to comment for this article.
Walter Jones said that he was working with a lawyer and declined to comment.
Nowlin said that anybody with additional information on the case should contact the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office.
