Case of slain UCCS student goes to jury

The jury deciding whether former Fort Carson soldier Ryan Krueger masterminded the brutal killing of a 19-year-old college student got the case Wednesday afternoon after more than two weeks of trial.

Krueger, 31, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder in the 2001 slaying of Patricia Ann Elliott.

Elliott, a freshman at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, was bludgeoned with a barbell, then strangled with her afghan. She had been selling drugs she got from Krueger, police say.

Police and prosecutors say Krueger thought she was a snitch, so he enlisted the help of co-defendants Christopher William Allen and Benjamin Gunvalsen in killing Elliott, then cleaning her townhouse with bleach, ditching evidence and formulating an alibi.

Colorado Springs police interviewed the three - Allen and Gunvalsen were still soldiers at the time - shortly after the April 2001 homicide, but they never had enough evidence to make arrests. Detective Derek Graham revived the case in 2005, tapped the men's cell phones, then traveled to interview them and their families.

Gunvalsen, 27, cut a deal with prosecutors in 2006 and agreed to testify against Allen and Krueger.

Allen, 29, was convicted by a jury earlier this year of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. He refused to testify at Krueger's trial. Gunvalsen was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to accessory.

Krueger, who fired his public defenders and represented himself, told jurors Wednesday that Gunvalsen lied to investigators to cover the fact he killed Elliott.

"Detective Graham decided in 2001 who he thought was responsible for Patricia Elliott's death, and all he did after that was to pin it all on me," Krueger said.

Krueger, who did not testify in his defense, emphasized the fact that none of his DNA or fingerprints were found at Elliott's townhouse. He had a harder time explaining to jurors how Elliott's backpack, with drugs and money in it, was found hidden in a laundry basket in his home.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gail Warkentin said Krueger was the only one of the three with a motive to kill Elliott.

"After she's gone, he goes on a shopping spree with cash taken from her," Warkentin said Wednesday during closing arguments.

She pointed to the recorded phone calls Allen and Gunvalsen made to Krueger after Graham visited them in 2005.

"He thought after five years, they had gotten away with it," Warkentin said. "He thought Derek Graham had given up, the CSPD had given up and her family had given up. But the house of cards that Ryan Krueger built is falling."

The jury had not reached a verdict by late Wednesday and deliberations will continue today. Krueger is being held without bond at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0110 or dennis.huspeni@gazette.com