A nearly two-decade-old Boulder County killing has ended with a guilty plea, but not a murder conviction or additional prison time for the man prosecutors once accused of leaving a woman’s body near a shallow grave.
John Angerer pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminally negligent homicide in the 2006 death of Angela Wilds, according to MyFox28 Columbus. The plea came after two trials on the original second-degree murder charge ended in mistrials, leaving prosecutors and Wilds’ loved ones facing the prospect of a third trial.
A 2006 Discovery Near Lyons Started The Cold Case
Two hikers discovered a badly decomposed nude body on June 4, 2006, in South Saint Vrain Canyon, roughly 3.3 miles outside Lyons in unincorporated Boulder County. The body appeared to have been dragged from a nearby shallow grave, while deputies found yellow ski pants, a sleeping bag and a pillow in a pillowcase folded near the site, according to a Boulder County release.
The woman was initially unidentified, but DNA testing confirmed in November 2006 that she was Angela Wilds, who was 38. Investigators later connected Angerer to the crime scene and Wilds, though the original case was dismissed in 2010 after a judge found the murder charge was not supported by probable cause.
Investigators Rebuilt The Case Over More Than A Decade
Authorities continued working the case after that dismissal, identifying new witnesses, re-interviewing people familiar with the investigation, consulting forensic pathologists and submitting additional evidence for DNA testing. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office eventually presented the updated case to a grand jury, which returned a second-degree murder indictment in 2023.
Angerer was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska, in March 2023 and returned to Colorado to face the charge. Denver7’s reporting at the time described the case as one of several Colorado cold cases revived through new forensic work and witness interviews.
The Plea Resolves The Case Without A Murder Finding
Under the agreement, prosecutors dismissed the second-degree murder count after Angerer admitted guilt to criminally negligent homicide. That distinction matters: he has now been convicted of a felony homicide offense, but not of intentionally or knowingly murdering Wilds.
The court imposed three years in prison followed by two years of parole, but Angerer received credit for 1,375 days already served. As a result, he is not expected to spend additional time in prison following sentencing, according to MyFox28 Columbus.
What The Conviction Means
Colorado classifies criminally negligent homicide as a class 5 felony. The offense generally applies when a person causes another person’s death through conduct amounting to criminal negligence, a lower level of culpability than the second-degree murder charge Angerer originally faced, according to the Colorado General Assembly.
The plea closes a case that began with an unsettling discovery in the canyon, survived a dismissed prosecution and produced two mistrials nearly 18 years later. For Wilds’ family, the result establishes a criminal conviction in her death, even as the murder allegation that shadowed the case for years was dropped.
