It's been over seven-months since Kara Nichols, 19, disappeared after leaving her Colorado Springs home, but her mother isn't giving up hope.

On Saturday afternoon Julia Nichols and a group of friends posted fliers downtown asking for help finding her daughter. Kara Nichols was last seen on Oct. 9 leaving her home in Colorado Springs to go to Denver. Monday is Kara's birthday.

"It's an up and down process, but I never want to give up hope," Julia Nichols said. "I don't have any confirmation that my daughter has passed away and so I have to keep hoping."

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is investigating Kara's disappearance and not long ago announced that tips in the case had stopped coming in. Julia Nichols said detectives told her the case has gone cold.

"It's a horrible feeling, there's a sense of empty desperation and extreme frustration," Nichols described. "Wishing we had in our power more resources of our own."

But, Julia Nichols is continuing her search for her daughter and trying to help others. She's working with the National Women's Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation on "Operation Runway" and effort to track and spread information about modeling websites that may take advantage of models.

It is rumored that Kara Nichols's disappearance may be connected to her profile on the website "Model Mayhem" which pairs prospective models with photographers. Other Colorado teens who have gone missing have profiles on the site.

"We'd like to investigate and get the word out that some of these situations aren't all they seem," Julia Nichols explained.

Nichols said her hopes and her fears have increased after hearing the incredible story of three missing women recently found in Cleveland, they had been held captive in a home for a decade. She hopes the case will remind everyone to be vigilant.

"For anybody who seems to be in trouble or scared or out of place or not looking well," she said. "I think it really behoves us all to reach out."

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Kara Nichols is asked to call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

 

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DENVER - Most of county sheriffs in Colorado have joined in a lawsuit against the state over the new gun control laws. In all, 54 of the state's 64 sheriffs have signed on as plaintiffs in the suit which seeks to overturn the high capacity magazine ban and expanded background checks.

The sheriffs announced the filing of their suit at a news conference held Friday morning in the lobby of the Independence Institute. The conservative public policy research group is representing the sheriffs in court pro-bono.

"It's difficult to enforce and difficult to comply with," explained attorney David Kopel.

Weld County Sheriffs John Cooke made clear the motivation behind the suit is policy and not politics.

"We're not the ones playing politics with this," Cooke said. "We believe the legislature were the ones that were playing politics. We're standing up for our constituents and the constitution."

When asked whether he would enforce the laws, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa replied, "It's not a matter of whether I chose to enforce it or not, it's unenforceable."

The suit also claims lawmakers violated the American's with Disabilities Act by denying gun owners who are disabled the right to defend themselves using the more convenient high-capacity magazines.

"We're hoping that the court will hear it soon and issue a timely decision protecting people's safety and their rights," Kopel said.

Colorado Attorney General Johns Suthers, who will defend the state in this lawsuit, says he too wants to get things going quickly.

"In defending the lawsuit as counsel for the state, the objective of the Attorney General's Office will be to get court rulings on the legality of various aspects of the legislation as expeditiously as possible," Suthers said in a statement. "Colorado citizens, and law-abiding gun owners in particular, deserve such clarification."

Suthers also released a letter drafted by his office to the Colorado Department of Public Safety offering guidance to officers on how to interpret the language of HB-1224. That letter is expected to be circulated among various law enforcement agencies in the state.

It suggests high-capacity magazine owners who were grandfathered in under the law could still lock those items in the truck, hand them to a gunsmith for service or lend them to a friend at the shooting range.

The new gun control laws are set to take effect July 1.

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The boy has been in the care of a former Colorado Springs City Council member, 44-year-old Charles Wingate, and his wife, 50-year-old Sharon Starkey.

Police have suspended misdemeanor child abuse charges against the boy's guardians pending the outcome of an investigation to determine whether those charges need to be upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies or include multiple counts.

In the meantime, the boy is in protective custody with the Department of Human Services, and they're doing an investigation of their own. DHS officials say removing a child from their guardian's custody doesn't happen lightly; they need permission from a county attorney and a judge to intervene. In El Paso County, child removal is extremely rare, even though the Department gets more than 13,000 calls for service each year. "We do assign about 40% of those for investigation so probably about 5,500 for investigation and only about 10% of those become cases, and an even lower percentage of those children ever have to leave their home," said Marian Percy, Deputy Child Welfare Administrator with the El Paso County Department of Human Services.

While Percy couldn't talk specifically about this case, she did talk about how DHS handles some factors present in the child abuse investigation on Corinth Road. For instance, what they do when a child has been kept in captivity: "We would want to do an assessment try to figure out whats going on with that child and look at developmentally how that child is doing, socially how that child is doing, etc," Percy said.

Percy also discussed protocol when a child has been living in an unsanitary environment; in this case, the child was found naked, living among live and dead rodents with human and animal feces. "It's one thing if the house is cluttered but its more when it's a safety hazards," Percy said.

Percy also talked about what DHS workers do when the child in question has a disability; in this case, the 13-year-old boy is autistic. "Where we say younger children are more at risk, if they're older or have some sort of handicapping condition that makes them more at risk as well."

Percy said the ultimate goal in these kinds of situations is to rehabilitate the family to a safe and healthy living standard and reunite them with their child. "No matter how cases look from the outside looking in, there's a lot of good that happens," she said.

Charles Wingate expressed his innocence to News 5 on Thursday night. Wingate resigned from City Council back in 2003-- with two years remaining on his term-- because of numerous charges. He later pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Wingate was also accused of downloading porn on a city-owned computer, although he denies the allegations and was never charged.

News 5 also received a letter from First United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs where Wingate's wife, Sharon Starkey, works as a part-time employee in the nursery. They say while she is a responsible and reliable employee, Starkey has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

 

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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO- A big name is putting big efforts into making sure our local veterans and first responders get the support they deserve.

A golf tournament on Monday in Colorado Springs benefits the Gary Sinise Foundation, which supports veterans and first responders. Gary Sinise is no stranger to our region. He's performed multiple times with the Lt. Dan Band on Fort Carson, visited Pueblo in 2011 to honor firefighters involved in 9/11, and in January of 2012 his foundation donated $15,000 to the Pikes Peak Firefighters Association Fire Rehab Unit.

"You wanna' be the good guy," Jesse Murphree said. "You wanna' be that person that is helping save people."

It's that dream, in part, that led Murphree to join the military. His deployment to Afghanistan, though, came at a heavy price.

"It felt like I had a truck on top of my legs. It felt like my, I mean, my arm was snapped, it was open," Murphree explained.

Murphree's group was attacked. He was thrown hundreds of feet, severely injured.

"You feel your body shutting down, and you got a lot of emotions that come through your mind. Whether it's your family back home, or your friends.," Murphree said of the experience.

A short time later, Murphree was found by his fellow soldiers.

"Probably the most relieved, happy person," Murphree said. "And not 'cuz I thought I was gonna' live, but for the fact that I wasn't gonna' die alone."

Murphree didn't die, but he did lose his legs.

It's stories like his that drove Gary Sinise to create the Gary Sinise Foundation.

"After Sept. 11th, I knew there was a role for me to play in supporting the men and women who were deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq," Sinise told News 5's Jennifer Horbelt during a phone interview. "The men and women who were serving over there needed to know that people back home were supporting them."

Sinise is no stranger to our area, or to Murphree. The two met at one of his concerts on Fort Carson.

"Even pulling me up on stage, just making it a good time, making it for a day that was actually worth to fly home," Murphree said.

"Seeing that some of what I've been able to do out there is actually making a difference, that you just feel like, well, gotta' keep going," Sinise said of why he continues to work closely with veterans and first responders.

Murphree says support like that saves lives, including his.

"They can change somebody's life," Murphree said. "From you know, being at the very bottom, to not wanting to be here anymore, to turning them into one of the happiest people and feeling like they have a purpose again."

The 2nd Annual Serving Honor and Need Colorado Golf Tournament takes place on Monday, May 20th, at the Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy. Doots open at 11:00 am, with tee time at 1:00 pm. All proceeds benefit the Gary Sinise Foundation. If you'd like to take part register, click here to register.

(PHOTOS USED IN STORY COURTESY OF: Teresa Lee Photography, Gary Sinise Foundation)

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Charles Wingate and his wife, Sharon Starkey were charged Thursday with child neglect following a welfare check call.

Officers responded to a home on the 6100 block of Corinth Drive and found a 13-year-old boy inside, home alone. Police say the teen was not clothed and had been living in deplorable conditions.

"There were rodents in the house," spokesman Larry Herbert with the Colorado Springs Police Department said. "There were deceased and live rodents. Feces were also present."

Neighbors living in the area say it's generally a quiet place to live with few problems and are shocked to hear about the allegations.

"It's very upsetting because of I have kids," Dana Sterczewski said.

Neighbor Kevin Depp lives down the street and says his son went to elementary school with the teen a few years back---but hasn't heard or seen him since then.

"It's been a while," he said. "I don't know what's been going inside that house."

Charles Wingate and his wife are back at home today as DHS investigators and police continue working this case.

Wingate agreed to meet News 5 in a restaurant parking lot where he denied the allegations.

"They are false," he said. "I believe that when the facts come out, that will be determined."

Code enforcement officers condemned the home following the welfare check.

Stay News 5 and KOAA.com for any new developments on this case.

 

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