The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of Adam Douglas Densmore, a 38-year-old Boulder man who was found guilty in 2018 for killing and dismembering Ashley Mead. Densmore appealed the first-degree murder charge for multiple reasons, including an alleged failure to provide a proper Miranda warning. Specifically, a caseworker for the Department of Human Services asked questions to Densmore without providing a Miranda warning.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that the trial court properly considered all of the circumstances in the case before coming to the ruling. The Colorado Supreme Court further ruled that the caseworker was not required to provide a Miranda warning because she was not acting as a law enforcement agent at the time.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said that “we are pleased that the Colorado Supreme Court has affirmed this murder conviction. [Densmore] brutally murdered Ashley Mead, who was loved by her family and her many friends.”
Mead, Densmore, and their one-year-old child had moved to Boulder together, but were no longer a couple at the time. Mead was last seen on February 12, 2017 and reported missing on February 14, 2017.
Densmore murdered Mead in their Boulder apartment and drove the remains to his family’s Louisiana home. He dismembered her body there and began driving to Oklahoma. He dispersed body parts and evidence during the drive. He was found and arrested in Oklahoma. His child was with him at the time.
Densmore was also charged with tampering with a human body, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Mead’s torso was found in a suitcase in an Oklahoma dumpster, but the rest of her body parts have not been recovered.
Densmore is a war veteran and has been diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar disorder. He was arrested in 2008 for a domestic violence charge against his wife at the time. Law enforcement officers found Densmore with his hands around her neck.
“Densmore will spend the rest of his life in state prison,” Dougherty said. “Given his actions, which were truly horrific, that consequence was certainly deserved.”
