JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The stabbing of a seasonal park ranger at Staunton State Park on Tuesday was an "elaborate hoax," authorities said, and that ranger, who remains in the hospital, was arrested on several charges.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office announced on Thursday afternoon that it had finalized a warrant for the arrest of Callum Heskett, 26, on several felony and misdemeanor charges. He was arrested on Thursday, but is still in the hospital. During the investigation, authorities noticed inconsistencies in his story and found his online searches regarding abdominal arteries and stab wounds.
"Today, we arrested what we thought to be the victim in our stabbing from Staunton State Park," Jacki Kelley, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, told Denver7 in a Thursday interview. "He was arrested as a suspect after he created an elaborate hoax to involve himself in what turned out to be a self-inflicted wound."
Before he worked with CPW, Heskett was a law enforcement officer with the Lafayette Police Department.
This incident began around 9 a.m. Tuesday, when the Jeffcom 911 dispatch communications center received a call to help a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) ranger at Staunton State Park.
The person who called, another CPW employee, said Heskett had used his radio to contact the employee and reported that he was in a "physical confrontation with a subject" on Old Mill Trail in the park, according to an arrest affidavit for Heskett. The other employee told authorities that he heard Heskett say statements like "Get back" and "He's fighting me" over the radio, the document reads.
As deputies made their way to the park, they heard on the radio that Heskett had been stabbed.
When authorities arrived, they found Heskett kneeling in a grassy area along the service road. A deputy saw that Heskett was holding a 3- to 4-inch pocket knife, which appeared to have been stabbed into his lower left abdomen, the affidavit reads.
At the scene, Haskett told the first responders that he had been traveling up the service road in a CPW Jeep when he saw a man hunched over near a tree, so he stopped to check on him. He claimed that the man stood up, cursed about "the police," charged at him, grabbed his pocketknife and stabbed him, the affidavit reads. Haskett told deputies he was able to deploy pepper spray, and after that the man fled into the woods. At some point during the altercation, Haskett said the suspect punched him in the back of his head and "took him to the ground," the affidavit reads.
He provided a description of the man to authorities.
Haskett was brought to an AirLife helicopter, which transported him to a nearby hospital for surgery. The wound was about 1 to 1.5 inches deep, according to the affidavit. At the hospital, a crime scene analyst collected DNA buccal swabs from Heskett. After this, Haskett told authorities he remembered the suspect was wearing a glove, the affidavit read.
Meanwhile, at the park, the search for the alleged "suspect" has started, with crews on the ground and in the air. Two people were temporarily detained and later released after authorities determined they were not connected with the stabbing.
"The mobilization of these resources significantly disrupted the involved agencies' ability to respond to other calls for service," the affidavit reads.
A Lookout Alert was sent to 8,600 homes in the area. Multiple schools were also put on "lockout" status, meaning students were kept inside and nobody was allowed to come in.
The sheriff's office said later Tuesday that they believed "this was a targeted attack."
Investigators reviewed the body-worn camera footage from the deputies at the scene and noted that Heskett did not appear to have any grass or dirt stains on his back — something they found unusual since he had said the suspect tackled him to the ground. He did have a dirt stain on his knee, and had been kneeling when authorities first arrived. They also did not notice any wounds to his head. The footage did show him appearing to send texts and possibly taking a photo or a video with his phone, the affidavit reads.
On Tuesday evening, a CPW investigator told authorities that Heskett had shown him, other CPW employees and his parents videos he took on his cell phone that depicted his wound and parts of the helicopter ride to the hospital, the affidavit says.
The morning after the incident, deputies went to the hospital to talk with Heskett again. He explained the stabbing incident once more and told them that he took the video of his wound in case it was helpful for the investigation. When asked, he said he took a video inside the helicopter because he had never been in one before. He provided written consent for authorities to search his phone.
When authorities questioned why Haskett only mentioned the suspect wearing a glove after he was asked for a sample of DNA, he had no explanation, according to the affidavit.
An investigator asked if he had stabbed himself and "he denied doing so," the document reads.
An analysis of his phone records showed that he had made several searches online regarding how deep arteries are in the lower abdomen and abdominal anatomy. One search read, "$1mil for each time you get stabbed," according to the document.
Investigators noted the odd behavior and inconsistencies in Heskett's statements.
"That, along with other conflicting and questionable evidence, further raised concerns about the validity of his allegations," the sheriff's office said. "After investigators conducted their first interview with Heskett, it became even more clear that his story was flawed and erroneous."
Ultimately, the investigation led to authorities determining this was an "elaborate hoax."
"We believe that he has a self-inflicted wound to his torso from his known knife," Kelley told Denver7. "... The suspect's behavior didn't match with what he says happened."
Once Heskett is out of the hospital, he will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail. He will face charges of attempting to influence a public servant, tampering with evidence — which are both felonies — false reporting to authorities, reckless endangerment, obstructing government operations and second-degree official misconduct, the sheriff's office said.
"We could not be more serious about pursuing charges against someone who really did a lot of damage to a community that was terrified that there was someone at large to law enforcement officials," Kelley said. "Not only did we run to him as quickly as we could to render aid, but the manhunt that took place in the immediate aftermath, the resources that were used on this investigation, the community that was locked down, the schools that were locked down — there is so, so much to be frustrated about. And we don't know why. We don't know why. I don't know that we'll ever know why, but we are very confident that this was nothing more than a hoax."
Denver7 returned to Staunton State Park on Thursday and met with Mike Bronson, who was climbing in the park, and Sierra Seright, who lives nearby.
"It wouldn’t occur to most people to stab themselves and then claim to be a victim of a stabbing," Bronson told us. "The one word is 'Why?'"
Seright said she hunkered down after receiving an alert on Tuesday about the stabbing. She recalled seeing a lot of emergency personnel and resources in the area.
"It’s a lot of fear that came over the community," she said. "Hopefully he gets all the mental help that he needs and support."
CPW’s Assistant Director of Law Enforcement Ty Petersburg issued the following statement on Thursday afternoon after the sheriff's office announced the arrest: "CPW appreciates the county sheriff’s professionalism and partnership in investigating this incident and will share additional information as this matter develops."
