Family says Glendale homicide could have been prevented

GLENDALE, Colo. — A family in Wyoming is shattered after their loved one was killed in Glendale last week.  

“I feel like it’s been surreal like a bad dream,” Shy Bitsie, Blackburn’s niece, said. “She was just an amazing woman and she had a lot of love for everybody.” 

On May 14, Glendale Police responded to an apartment building on South Forest Street. Blackburn was found unresponsive inside an apartment. Glendale Police said she had obvious blunt force injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide.

“She was my pretty little girl. She didn’t want to hurt nobody. She never wanted to hurt anybody,” Blackburn’s mother, Clara, said. 

Blackburn said her daughter left for Denver a few weeks ago.  A recent phone call made Clara Blackburn believe her daughter was killed by someone she knew. 

“She was like, ‘mom come help me, come get me,'” she recalled. “I told her to go to a safe place, call 911, do something. She said I can’t I’m going to get killed if I do that.” 

The family said they tried to report Clarinda missing with the local law enforcement on the Wyoming reservation they live on. They said every time they got any information about her whereabouts, they shared it with investigators. 

“[Clarinda] tried really hard to let us know where she was but we could only do so much,” Bitsie said. “It’s like another Native woman got slipped under the rug again.” 

Glendale Police would not say if they knew Clarinda’s family had attempted to report her missing. 

They would not answer any questions on Monday and simply stated, “We do not have any updates at this time as this case is still an active investigation.” 

Clarinda’s family remains devastated. They described her as the bright light, the back bone of the family. While they wait for answers, they already know one, Clarinda will never come home. 

“Everything I do around here she was right there I can’t go without her,” Clara Blackburn said. “She’s everything to us. I miss her so much.” 

Blackburn was a member of the Arapahoe Tribe. We have reached out to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to see if that missing persons report was ever formally filed, they told 9NEWS on Monday afternoon they’re working on the request. 

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