Ivan Moreno, Rocky Mountain News
Copyright 2006 Denver Publishing Company
Jessica Lenahan, whose estranged husband murdered their three daughters, told an audience at the University of Denver how she pleaded repeatedly with Castle Rock police to protect her children seven years ago.
“I need you to find those children - they’re in danger,” Lenahan remembers telling police after her husband, Simon Gonzales, took them without her knowledge.
Lenahan had gotten a restraining order against Gonzales in 1999 because she said he had been making harassing telephone calls to her.
Lenahan, who has remarried and now lives in California, tried to sue the Castle Rock Police Department for failing to enforce the restraining order.
“They gave him the benefit of the doubt,” said Lenahan of her husband.
She was the opening speaker at a two-day conference that concludes today.
The conference, “Castle Rock v. Gonzalez: Some are Guilty - All are Accountable,” brought together legal scholars and advocates of domestic violence victims from across the country to “ignite a movement to protect women and children,” said organizer Kristian Miccio, a law professor at DU.
Lenahan contended in her lawsuit that she called police several times the night of June 22, 1999, when Gonzales took her three daughters.
The next morning, Gonzales went to Castle Rock police headquarters, where he died in a shootout with police.
Lenahan’s daughters, Rebecca, 10, Katheryn, 8, and Leslie, 7, were found dead in Gonzales’ truck.
The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last summer 7-2 that “Colorado law has not created a personal entitlement to enforcement of restraining orders.”
Lenahan said she still doesn’t understand why police did not go looking for Gonzales that night.
“These are the things I’m grappling with and I just don’t get it,” she said.
Through the American Civil Liberties Union, Lenahan has filed a petition with the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Lenahan said she wants someone to admit that what happened to her was wrong.
“Naturally, I want to know that there’s still somebody out there who still believes in human rights and is able to at least acknowledge it and say it,” she said.
“I want a safer society. I want the laws to reflect what they say they’re going to do,” she said.
The attorney representing Lenahan, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez,said the point of the petition is to show that Lenahan’s case is not just about domestic violence but also about human rights.
“I’ve got three dead children and I still don’t know why,” Lenahan said after her speech.
“I’ve got death certificates that say, ‘Unknown time and unknown place.’ ”
morenoi@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2895
Photo, Jessica Lenahan, whose children were killed by their father, speaks at a domestic violence conference on Thursday. ELLEN JASKOL / ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
March 17, 2006