COLORADO SPRINGS – CSPD announced Thursday that charges have been filed in connection to a 30-year-old cold case that happened in Colorado Springs.
Court records show first-degree murder charges were filed Wednesday against Pueblo Man James Edward Papol, who was 15 years old at the time of the murder of Mary Lynn Vialpando on June 5, 1988. Papol is now 46 years old.
Vialpando, 24, was found raped and murdered in an alley in Old Colorado City. She died of blunt force trauma. No suspects were ever named in the case, but police sent DNA evidence to a lab in Virginia, which recreated the suspect’s facial appearance.
“This arrest will bring closure to the family of Mrs. Vialpando and the family she left behind,” said Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey. “However, my hope is this will bring some level of peace to each of them.”
District Attorney Dan May said this was the first case in Colorado state history where officers collected DNA from a crime scene.
