JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colorado — It started as a fender bender on a busy suburban road late at night. It ended with a 23-year-old man dead and a couple facing murder charges.
Shortly after 10:30 p.m. on July 25, a white BMW X5 and a Ford F-150 pickup truck collided on southbound Santa Fe Drive near Arapahoe Community College in unincorporated Jefferson County.
When the pickup drove away from the crash, 25-year-old Steven Cole Simpson did not let it go.
A 911 Call That Did Not Stop the Chase
Simpson’s wife, 26-year-old Corryn Simpson, called 911 to report the collision. Dispatchers told the couple clearly — stop following the truck.
They kept going anyway.
The Simpsons allegedly pursued the pickup west on Bowles Avenue and into the Grant Ranch neighborhood. During the 911 call, Steven could be heard making a threatening statement. Seconds later, the dispatcher heard two gunshots.
Andrew Luke Bott, a passenger in the pickup, was struck in the head.
The Driver Pulled Into a School Parking Lot
The truck’s driver, desperate for help, pulled into the parking lot of Columbine High School and called 911. He told dispatchers another car had been shooting at them and his passenger was down.
Deputies arrived and rushed Bott to Littleton Adventist Hospital. He died the next day.
How Investigators Tracked the Couple Down
Detectives pieced together the case using witness statements, 911 recordings, surveillance footage, and Flock license plate cameras — which captured both vehicles entering and leaving the neighborhood within seconds of each other.
Search warrants at the Simpsons’ Highlands Ranch home and BMW turned up three 9mm handguns and ammunition consistent with shell casings found at the scene.
Steven Simpson is charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Corryn Simpson is charged as an accessory to first-degree murder. Both are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on September 2.
A collision that lasted seconds. A chase that lasted minutes. A family that lost someone forever.
What do you think should happen to the couple? Share your thoughts in the comments.