Sheriff's Office says

After almost 50 years, the police identified the man who killed 20-year-old John Curtis Patterson, who was found dead at a petrol station in the North Boulder region in September 1975.

The Boulder County's sheriff office said on Wednesday that there is enough evidence to support the 32 -year -old Louis Jess Locicero.

Although some aspects of the case are not confirmed, there are now significant evidence that Locicero has committed crime according to a press release. But officials say Locicero died in 2024.

“For this reason, the Sheriff's office spends the time of the Boulder County time to examine such cold cases as this to see whether something was missed and to see whether new technologies can be found with new technologies,” said Detective Don Dillard in the release. “The Sheriff's office wants the families to know that their loved ones have not been forgotten.”

On September 29, 1975, the MPs of Boulder County were sent to a report by a deceased man in the 4,500 block of Broadway in the Boulder region after the publication. On arrival, the Patterson, an employee at the Cascade Service Station, found dead in a toilet at the petrol station with a fatal stab wound on the chest.

On the bottom of the bathroom near Patterson's body, there were also two unbearable caliber cartridges. Officials said that the cash register was found openly and that the money was missing, which pointed out that robbery was probably the motive.

The sheriff's office also said that the cartridges extractor brands and signs of “light hits” on the primers bored the hole.

The examination led to Locicero, a suspect with a suspected crime history, including robbery, burglary, drug and weapon costs, as the publication emerges. The Sheriff's office said he lived in a nearby hotel in the 4500 block of Broadway in the Boulder area for the time of murder.

Officials said in Lociceros Motelraum to find evidence of his participation in the murder, including an M1 carabiner weapon of 0.30 caliber.

Detective interviewed Locicero together with others and ultimately arrested Locicero in 1975, but was released for unknown reasons before the accusations were submitted, according to the press release.

“In our jurisdiction, we work very closely with the law enforcement authorities to ensure justice for the victims and our community.” Michael Dougherty, Prosecutor's Prosecutor of Boulder County, said in the press release. “As this examination of the sheriff (office) shows, the pursuit of justice will be something that we will always pursue. I am very grateful to the Sheriff's office that I continued to examine this tragic murder and used new technologies to provide answers to the victim and our community's family. Our office checked this investigation and with these new evidence that we were able to submit in this case in this case.”

According to a letter from the Boulder district prosecutor's office, Locicero was released three days after his arrest and records do not contain any information about the reason for his release.

Officials said that detectives have followed the indications over the decades that they were unable to develop new leads until recently after reviewing evidence and potential witnesses.

Despite earlier challenges in the final connection between Locicero's firearm with the crime, a breakthrough occurred in the recent case, according to the publication. The Sheriff's office rated the Ballistik -IQ device from Evidence IQ, which linked the cassettes in the murder scene and the cartridges in Lociceros nearby hotel rooms with a single weapon -the caliber of Lokicer, M1 carabiner, into a single firearm.

Officials said that evidence was later sent to Ballistics IQ for evaluation, which ultimately confirmed these results. According to the publication, this evidence connects the Lociceros weapon weapon with the crime scene with the crime scene.

“I am proud of the work of those in our agency and in reality that our agency is willing to be an advocate of technology, and their participation in solving cases, especially in cold cases, and those who had to wait to wait,” said Commandant Jeff Pelletier in the publication. “I would also like to thank the Evidence IQ team for their willingness to be part of the closure of this case and to carry out an expert analysis in such a prompt way.”

Originally published: May 7, 2025 at 6:39 p.m. Mdt