A Jefferson County grand jury has handed up a two-count indictment accusing 44-year-old Brandon David Mumma of tampering with the body of Denver hairstylist Jax Gratton. Gratton, 34, vanished in mid-April 2025, and her decomposed remains turned up in a locked alley space in Lakewood in early June. Investigators arrested Mumma this week in Summit County, where he remains in custody as the case begins to move through the courts.
According to a press release from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, the grand jury charged Mumma with Tampering with a Deceased Human Body (F3) and Tampering with Evidence (F6). District Attorney Alexis King called it the result of a months-long, collaborative investigation and praised Lakewood detectives for their work. The office said the grand jury delivered the indictment on March 9, and a judge signed an arrest warrant the same day.
What prosecutors allege
Prosecutors say security-camera video and cell-phone data became the backbone of the investigation, charting Gratton’s last known phone activity and tracking the movements of people who were with her inside a Lakewood office suite in the early morning of April 16, 2025. As reported by CBS News Colorado, the indictment alleges Mumma returned to the unit at about 5:55 a.m., then later carried trash bags to a second-story window and dropped them into a dumpster in the alley below. Prosecutors say those actions amounted to removing Gratton’s body and other evidence in an effort to avoid detection.
Where the body was found and autopsy
Gratton’s remains were discovered on June 6, 2025, in a narrow, locked space between two buildings on the 9600 block of West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood, according to reporting that reviewed the coroner’s findings. The Jefferson County coroner ultimately listed the cause and manner of death as undetermined, citing advanced decomposition that obscured crucial evidence and toxicology tests that detected several substances, The Denver Gazette reported. Community members and advocacy organizations later blasted the handling of the case and called for independent oversight of the investigation, Denver7 noted.
Legal next steps
The First Judicial District’s announcement states that the grand jury returned the indictment on March 9 and that an arrest warrant was issued shortly afterward. Mumma was taken into custody in Summit County and is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond, the First Judicial District Attorney's Office said. Prosecutors added that they will not offer further public comment while the case is pending and emphasized that the charges are allegations, with Mumma presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Gratton’s family said in a statement that they felt some relief knowing the man accused in the case could not hurt anyone else, while still pressing for answers and independent oversight after months without them, CBS News Colorado reported. Prosecutors said a second man who was with Gratton earlier cooperated with investigators and is not named in the indictment.
