UPDATE 12/27/2024 3:00 p.m.: The Park County Coroner's Office has identified the deceased body found on Camp Fire Road as 65-year-old Timmy L. Huston of Hartsel, Colorado. His death was ruled a homicide. The search for missing person Stephen Walker continues.
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A body has now been found, and El Paso County officials say they believe it is a missing person case.
The case dates back to when two men were reported missing on Thursday, December 19th.
Last week, officers were first called to the Cimarron Hills area where there were reportedly large amounts of blood at a home.
They then learned that 46-year-old John Rankin Morris and 37-year-old Stephen Walker were missing.
Walker's family said both Walker and Morris lived together at the residence, which is a sober home. For a week, Walker's family has been begging for answers and hoping the men can be found.
“I'm just so stressed that we're worried. We want to find them. We want some sort of closure and we're looking for answers… answers,” said Jacqueline Willis, Walker's stepmother.
Stephen Walker (Source: Leona Neely)
Officers were also searching for a black Audi linked to her disappearance. Walker's family says the car belonged to Walker and that it disappeared at the same time he and his roommate went missing.
In the latest turn of events, we now know that Park County officers were called to another residence on Campfire Road for a welfare check on December 24th. About a half-mile from that home, officers said they found a car that matched the description of Walker's black Audi.
They found a deceased man in the house. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office has not yet released the identification of the body.
“It was determined that the known resident of the Park County residence had indirect ties to the missing person(s) case in El Paso County (December 19),” the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release.
Officers now tell KRDO13 they are looking for a woman, Hailey Cole. Officials say she is being described as a person of interest.
Hailey Cole (Source: EPSO)
Officers say they are looking for her, as well as a blue 1994 Ford F-150 pickup truck with a prominent “HUNTER” decal on the left fender. Deputies say the truck could be headed to Mississippi.
(Source: EPSO)
Morris, who was originally reported missing along with Walker, is now named a person of interest in the case. Police say both he and Cole should be considered armed and dangerous.
Johnny Rankin Morris (Source: EPSO)
While it is still unclear whose blood was found in the Cimmaron Hills home or whose body was found in the Park County home, Walker's family is holding out hope that their son will be found unharmed.
“It breaks my heart right now that my son is safe. “I want to know he’s okay even if I don’t talk to him every day,” Willis said.
Stephen Walker, right (Source: Leona Neely)
Stephen Walker, 37, is described as an adult male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with tanned skin, black hair, brown eyes and tattoos on his right arm. Mr Walker is missing under suspicious circumstances.
Johnny Rankin Morris, 46, is described as an adult male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 pounds, Caucasian, with close-cropped brown and gray hair, blue eyes and a tattoo on his right ear. Morris is an interesting person.
Hailey Diane Cole, 43, is described as an adult female, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, Caucasian, brown (medium length) and blue eyes. Cole is an interesting person.
Those who may have information or may have seen the missing F-150 pickup are asked to call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Regional Communications Center non-emergency hotline at 719-390-5555.
Morris and Cole are considered armed and dangerous. If you see them, officers say you should call 911.
Comments are closed.