Melba Jean Ginther
Marriages
Raymond Powers
Obituaries
Denver Post page 1B - June 2, 2002
Keystone woman's slaying baffles family and police
Denver Post page 2a - October 29, 2012
Cold Cases Blog: It has been a decade since 57-year-old Melba Jean Ginther was found near Minturn, shot in the back of a head by a high-powered rifle from close range. The body of the pastry chef, grandmother, and arrowhead hunter was off Highway 24, and authorities would still like to question two men seen in the area in a white Dodge extended-cab pickup. Denver post report Kirk Mitchell is compiling unsolved cases online, and sometimes all that is needed to reignite an investigation is a single pivotal clue.
Vail Daily - June 29, 2002
A woman who lives on a ranch west of Eagle has been arrested for investigation of murder in the shooting death of an ex-boyfriend, police said Friday.
Kathleen “Kathy” Denson, 44, was taken into custody Thursday after a woman who lives on a ranch between Eagle and Gypsum called 911 saying she’d just shot her ex-boyfriend, said Kim Andree, a spokeswoman for the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
When paramedics arrived at Denson’s ranch, at 14245 U.S. Highway 6 between Eagle and Gypsum, they found Gerald Boyd, 45, of Vail, lying in the living room with an apparent gunshot wound to the chest, Andree said.
Boyd, who was known as “Cody,” was pronounced dead at the scene, Andree said.
The Sheriff’s Office would not discuss the incident Thursday night and released few details Friday. The case was still under investigation Friday night, and investigators had no further comments, Andree said.
Denson made a brief appearance in Eagle County Court Friday. She be will held at the Eagle County jail through the weekend and will appear for her second court hearing Monday.
The killing is the second in Eagle County in a little over a month.
The body of 57-year-old Keystone Resort baker Melba Jean Ginther, of Keystone, was found near Camp Hale on May 20.
Ginther was shot to death and left lying behind a pickup truck 150 yards down a dirt road from Pando Junction on U.S. Highway 24 between Red Cliff and Leadville.
Investigators have followed several leads in the case but have not yet made any arrests in that case.
Matt Zalaznick covers public safety, Eagle County Courts and Avon/ Beaver Creek. He can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 606, or via e-mail at mzalaznick@vaildaily.com.
Vail Daily - June 4, 2002
Hunt for Murder Suspects Continues
Not all of these people are believed to be suspects, but police say some of them may have seen something suspicious that day that will lead investigators to the killer or killers who left 57-year-old Melba Jean Ginther shot to death behind a pickup truck 150 yards down a dirt road from U.S. Highway 24.
Motorists who drove Highway 24 that day told police they saw people riding four-wheelers and other off-road vehicles in the Camp Hale recreation area that afternoon, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators are hoping to talk to these people to find out what they saw that afternoon.
Since May 20, the day Ginther’s body was found on the dirt road near the Pando Junction railroad crossing, police have been looking for two men traveling in a white pickup truck. Investigators gathered more details about the truck while talking to Vail Valley-to-Leadville commuters they stopped at a roadblock set up on Highway 24 a few days after the brutal slaying.
The truck, described as a large, early model White Dodge extended-cab pickup with dual exhaust and running boards, was seen in the area about 5 p.m., about two hours before Ginther’s body was found by motorists.
She had been shot in the back of the head, investigators said.
The passenger-side running board on the truck is loose, the windows are tinted and there may be a container, possibly a toolbox, in the bed of the truck, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
The truck was seen leaving the crime scene that afternoon, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said they also believe there were two men at the crime scene, but haven’t confirmed their identities, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Ginther was a pastry chef for Keystone Resorts. She was born in Minturn and spent most of her life in the mountains.
Co-workers said Ginther, who worked alone on an afternoon shift, kept to herself. Ginther’s brother, who lives on the Front Range, said he hadn’t seen his sister in three years and that she didn’t have much contact with the other family members.
A Red Cliff liquor store owner reported seeing Ginther earlier on the afternoon of May 20. He said the woman came into his store to ask directions to Camp Hale.
Anyone who can confirm the identity of the men in the truck or the location of the truck is urged to call the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office at 1-800-315-5275 or 328-8530.
Anyone who has information or may have witnessed this crime may earn up to $1,000 and remain anonymous by calling Crimestoppers of Eagle County at 328-7007 or 1-800-963-TIPS or on-line at http://www.eaglesheriff.com by clicking on “extra, extra.”
Vail Daily - May 31, 2002
Eagle County identifies Camp Hale murder victim
Melba Jean Ginther, 57, who lived in Dillon, was found dead around 7 p.m. May 20 lying behind a green pickup truck 150 yards down a dirt road off U.S. Highway 24 near Camp Hale, between Red Cliff and Leadville.She had been shot in the back of the head with a rifle, Eagle County Coroner Kara Bettis said.Though police had clues to Ginther’s identity shortly after her body was found by commuters traveling between the Vail area and Leadville, they did not confirm her identity until Thursday morning, Bettis said.”Fingerprints positively identified her as Melba Ginther,” Bettis said.No one has been arrested in the brutal slaying of the woman, who was a pastry chef at Keystone ski resort. Police say they are following several leads, however.Ginther was apparently a mystery in life, as well, said family members and co-workers. “(She) kind of led her life that way,” said her older brother, Donald Ginther, who lives in Lakewood.”Melba Jean didn’t want the family to know where she was,” he said. “It’s pretty much a mystery to us what she was involved in. We don’t know what happened. That’s the hard part.”Donald Ginther said his sister was born in Minturn and grew up, for the most part, in the mountains. He said she once lived in Breckenridge, years ago, but many details of her life are unknown to the family. Donald Ginther said he hadn’t seen his sister in three years.”Our dad died three years ago, and I brought Mom to live down here (in Lakewood),” he said. “Melba Jean just showed up one night, took Mom out to supper and that was the last we saw her.”Melba Jean Ginther worked as a pastry chef in Keystone Resort’s conference center kitchen. Resort spokeswoman Dawn Doty said Ginther lived alone in Dillon and was the sole baker in the kitchen’s afternoon shift.Doty said she thought police might have had a difficult time locating Ginther’s family because notification information in the woman’s human resource files was scarce.”She wasn’t known real well,” Doty said. “She would come to work when everybody else was getting off. People described her as a really sweet, “grandmotherly’ lady. We’re just thankful they could find her family.”How police tracked down Ginther’s family might be another mystery.Obituary information received by the weekly Eagle Valley Enterprise lists nine surviving family members by name, but only three have phone numbers listed in the areas given.Ginther’s mother, Mable Ginther, lives in Lakewood. She apparently is survived by four sisters in Salida and Cody, Wyo., four daughters in Kiowa, Thornton, Valdez, Alaska, and New England, and seven grandchildrenHer ex-husband, Raymond Powers, reportedly lives in Canon City.The discovery of Ginther’s body on a remote road near an area called Pando Junction, just north of Camp Hale, caused jitters all the way down to the tiny town of Red Cliff, where Ginther may have stopped on her way to Camp Hale May 20. A liquor store owner in Red Cliff remembered giving a woman matching Ginther’s description directions to Camp Hale earlier that afternoon.Police have not named any suspects but say they want to talk to two men riding in a white pickup truck seen in Pando Junction about two hours before Ginther’s body was discovered.Police have also determined the green pickup behind which Ginther’s body was found belonged to one her friends.Services for Ginther are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Intercession Episcopal Church, 3101 E. 100th Ave., in Thornton. A reception will follow the services.Reid Williams can be reached at (970) 668-3998 ext. 237 or rwilliams@summitdaily.com.Matt Zalaznick covers public safety, Eagle County Courts and Avon/ BeaverCreek. He can be reached at (970) 949-0555 ext. 606 or via e-mail atmzalaznick@vaildaily.com.
Vail Daily page p A10 - December 20, 2005
Detectives await break in 2002 Ginther killing
Vail Daily page p A4 - September 30, 2009
Eagle County deputies still probing 2002 slaying
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 30, 2009 at 3:58 am
VAIL, Colo.—Eagle County investigators say they haven’t given up on solving the 2002 slaying of a 57-year-old ski resort worker whose body was found about 10 miles south of Vail.
An autopsy showed Melba Jean Ginther died of a gunshot wound in her head. Investigators said she didn’t shoot herself, but no arrests have been made.
Ginther lived alone in Keystone and worked in a Keystone Resort bakery. Her body was found behind a pickup near Camp Hale, a former Army training camp. Investigators say she borrowed the pickup to go shopping.
Sheriff’s Det. Doug Winters says Ginther’s death is the only unsolved slaying in Eagle County that he knows of.
He says she was estranged from her family, paid cash for purchases and didn’t use credit cards or checks.
