DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — There has been a major break in a Douglas County cold case murder. The Douglas County Sheriff held a press conference on Tuesday to announce two arrests in connection to a woman who disappeared in 2019.
“We've never had a case quite like this in Douglas County,” Sheriff Darren Weekly said. “We have always had typically a body that we have had to prosecute any type of murder case. So this is the first of its kind in Douglas County.”
A grand jury indictment led to the arrests of two people in the cold case murder of Kimberly Bell who was killed in July of 2019.
“Kimberly Bell’s sister originally reported her to us as a missing person,” Weekly said. “We had very little information to go on at that point. And 2021 is when it got to our cold case unit and they started digging further into Ms. Bell's background and whereabouts.”
Weekly told reporters that witness statements and a lot of investigative work helped the cold case unit draw a disturbing timeline, starting with Bell being choked to death in her car at a Regional Transportation District parking garage in unincorporated Douglas County.
He arrested Javier Martell for the murder and Jennifer Bremer for accessory to a crime.
According to Weekly, after Bell was killed, Martel and Bremer drove to various locations around the Denver metro area with Bell's body still in the back of the vehicle. That included a Home Depot in Aurora where he said Martell bought an axe.
“Later that night, Bremer and Martell drove to a remote location near Estes Park,” Weekly said. “Martell removed Bell's body from the rear of the vehicle and took it to a close by location and proceeded to dismember Bell's body.”
While police could not recover Bell’s body, Weekly said witness statements led them to discover that Martell put Bell’s dismembered body into trash bags and discarded her at a nearby veterinary clinic dumpster.
“That's part of the reason why we went to the grand jury route in this case,” Weekly “We’re glad to get to this point to get some closure for the family,” Weekly said. “Our cold case unit just did an outstanding job. They put the work in. They understood that they needed to get justice for Kimberly Bell. We're not there yet. We need to get a conviction. But they would not let this case rest.”
As the investigation continues, Weekly asks anyone who has any additional information about this case or anybody who knew Bell, Martell, or Bremer around July 2019, to contact the DCSO cold case unit at 303-660-7528 or [email protected].
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