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DeWild twins, sister-in-law face murder charges

JEFFERSON COUNTY - Two men and a woman were advised of their charges in connection with the cold-case death of 30-year-old Heather Jean DeWild who went missing in July 2003 and was found dead a few months later.

READ THE FULL INDICTMENT Thursday, the DeWilds appeared in a Jefferson County courthouse to be formally advised of their charges. All three of them were fingerprinted and had mouth swabs- all common procedure with felony cases. The three DeWilds all requested public defenders.On July 24, 2003, Heather DeWild went to Daniel DeWild's Edgewater home around noon with her two young children, according to court documents. Daniel and Heather were in the final stages of their divorce and court documents say Daniel used a "ruse" to get Heather to come to his home. Heather DeWild's body was found on Sept. 4, 2003 in a shallow grave close to westbound Highway 6 near mile marker 262.5, just east of Highway 119 in Clear Creek Canyon. Authorities say her body was badly decomposed and she was wearing the same clothing she was last seen in on July 24. Officials say her body was wrapped in trash bags and secured by duct tape. Her neck and wrists were loosely bound with rope. It is still unclear how Heather DeWild died. REMEMBER: Heather DeWild case photos Court documents allege the three suspects hid the evidence and Heather's body. The indictment says a witness saw Daniel, David and Roseanne DeWild trying to get rid of the body near Highway 6. At the time of Heather's disappearance, Roseanne and David were dating and living together at Daniel's home. According to Mary Rosanne DeWild's testimony in the indictment, she and David were married on Aug. 1, 2003 "just in case something happens," and "so I couldn't testify against [David]." Daniel, David and Mary Roseanne DeWild were arrested on Wednesday and each is being held on $1 million cash bond. They have each been indicted on one count of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Their first court appearance will be on Dec. 15. "It's very difficult to know that that's who was indicted, it's very difficult to know it's someone who is so close. To know they did something so horrible to our family, if it's the case, that's pretty surprising, it's pretty hard to deal with. I feel a little bit betrayed, I hope for their sake they realize what they've done and feel some sort of remorse or sorrow for it," Rebecca Barger, Heather's younger sister, said. Barger says this has been especially hard on Heather's kids, now 12 and 14, because their own father has been arrested for their mother's murder. Barger says the kids had been splitting time between Daniel DeWild and their grandfather, who also had partial custody. "I'm happy something's happened with the case. This is only the first step. There is a long way to go," David Springer, Heather DeWild's father, said. In the past eight years, the twin brothers have been working for RTD since the murder. Daniel is a supervisor for bus operations and David is a supervisor for rail operations. RTD says both have been suspended without pay. Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey told 9NEWS he couldn't elaborate on exactly what solved the case. He did mention investigators tracked cell phone movements of the three suspects and the cell phone technology now is much more advanced than in 2003. Storey did say the investigation was stalled at one point. In 2005 when Storey took office, Heather's parents came to visit him and asked about the investigation. It was then, Storey said, he formed a task force of five people to work on solving the murder. The investigators worked on the case part time, while fulfilling other duties working for the Jefferson County Sheriff's office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Arvada and Edgewater Police. A few years ago, Storey assigned a full time investigator to this case. "When you go back and you start over again and maybe find more creative ways in your interviews and retracing the steps," Storey said. "There are a couple of things that are mentioned in the affidavit we didn't have back then that helped. Through reinvestigating and developing additional leads we did not have, that helped." Storey would not comment if the original investigators on this case did a good or a poor job. "Solving this homicide has been my priority since I took office in 2005. The investigation has been a long time coming, but investigators in my office, the Jefferson Sheriff's County Office, the Arvada Police Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Edgewater Police Department have never forgotten Heather DeWild," Storey said in a news release on Wednesday. "Homicide cases become much more difficult to solve with the passage of time. The tenacity of our investigators allowed us to take this to the grand jury. We are pleased that they have returned this indictment." When reached at his home in Edgewater, Don DeWild, the father of the twins accused of murder, had no comment. The Wheat Ridge Family Clinic where Mary Roseanne works also had no comment on her arrest which happened at the clinic Wednesday morning. />

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