BAILEY, Colo. — Authorities have pieced together the identity — and suspected killer, now deceased — of a man whose skeletal remains were found at a remote campground in Park County in May 2024.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) shared the update on Friday, in partnership with collaborating agencies, including the Golden Police Department, Park County Sheriff’s Office and the Park County Coroner’s Office.
The deceased was identified as John Cizek, 71, of Newark, California, CBI confirmed. He was killed in June 2016, about eight years before his remains were found near the Deer Creek Campground outside of Bailey.
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Human remains found at remote campsite in Park County; investigation underway
A fisherman discovered the skeletal remains in a shallow, frozen grave near a river on May 28, 2024, CBI reported. The skull had an apparent — and later, confirmed — gunshot wound. The remains were found with clothing.
Authorities began the process to identify the man, which included forensic genetic genealogy services from United Data Connect. DNA showed he had Czechloslavakian ancestry. This led investigators to his 85-year-old sister in Illinois.
In December 2025, CBI released a facial reconstruction of the man.
His name was officially confirmed on Tuesday, when the CBI Lab found a CODIS match. This led them to connect the case to a 2016 missing person file out of the Golden Police Department for John Cizek. To confirm it, authorities arranged for a sample of his shirt from his California home to be entered into CODIS.
The sample immediately matched the remains found near Bailey, CBI said.
The agency said the missing person case out of Golden for Cizek began in 2016.
At that time, Golden police were investigating a case of sexual assault on a child involving a 40-year-old suspect named David Little. Little fled before he could be taken into custody. During a June 21, 2016 undercover operation, detectives tried again to apprehend him. Little opened fire at the officers, who returned fire and injured Little. He was then taken into custody.
During Little's arrest, Golden detectives found he had Cizek's identification and credit cards, CBI said. Detectives also found that an RV in Jefferson County, which Cizek owned, had Little's dog inside. They discovered signs of foul play inside the RV, including indications of a cleaned crime scene, blood evidence and a bullet hole, CBI said.
Investigators obtained surveillance footage that showed Cizek going into his RV in Alamosa around noon on June 12, 2016. Little arrived at the same parking lot a few minutes later and entered the RV. The footage showed the RV leave about 10 minutes later.
That was the last confirmed sighting of Cizek. His remains were found about three hours away from that parking lot all those years later.
Investigators determined that Little had used Cizek's credit cards to buy some items, and had purchased a shovel, as well as materials to alter or repair the RV, with cash. The credit card activity indicated he had driven the RV between Alamosa and Denver, and stopped in Park County for gas late one evening, CBI said.
Authorities also found Little's journals, where he wrote about where he was headed, how he was avoiding law enforcement and his plan to steal an RV and abduct the sexual assault victim, CBI said.
Prosecutors with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Little after gathering evidence showing how Little was allegedly responsible for Cizek's death.
Little died by suicide on Oct. 4, 2016 while at the Jefferson County Jail. At the time, the sheriff's office said he was found non-responsive in his cell with a ligature around his neck. He was being held on charges of sexual assault of a child, attempted assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and first-degree murder.
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