STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The three people arrested for the murder of 26-year-old Steamboat Springs man Elliot Stahl were officially charged with three felonies and one misdemeanor on Friday by District Attorney Matt Karzen.
William Clive Ellifritz, 26, Brooke L. Forquer, 21, and Skyla Marie Piccolo-Labbs, 23, all of Craig, each face one count of murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony, along with one count of aggravated robbery, a Class 3 felony, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, a Class 5 felony. They also were charged with one count of abuse of a corpse, a misdemeanor.
The three were arrested Oct. 19 and are being held without bond in the Routt County Jail.
According to complaints filed by the district attorney’s office, the three defendants have been accused of causing the death of Stahl and stealing money, a backpack and prescription medications from him.
In an arrest affidavit filed in the case, Piccolo-Labbs told an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that Ellifritz stabbed Stahl in the neck with a knife, then both Forquer and Piccolo-Labbs, in separate interviews with the agent, said Ellifritz made them stab Stahl. Piccolo-Labbs told the agent she believed Ellifritz had them stab Stahl “to make them partially responsible.”
The alleged stabbing occurred Oct. 13 on U.S. Highway 40, somewhere between Mount Werner Road and Rabbit Ears Pass, while the three suspects and Stahl were riding in a car driven by Forquer, according to the affidavit.
Stahl’s body was discovered Oct. 14 on Forest Service Road 900 south of Yampa by a man fishing in the Flat Tops area. According to the arrest affidavit, when law enforcement officers arrived, they noticed the body looked as if had been placed at the scene with drag marks visible on the two-track road.
The arrest affidavit also indicated that Stahl’s body had a stab wound to the neck and to the upper chest, according to Detective TJ Sisto of the Routt County Sheriff’s Office, who attended Stahl’s autopsy.
The case was investigated by the sheriff’s office with assistance from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Craig Police Department, Steamboat Springs Police Department, Moffat County Sheriff’s Office and the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Piccolo-Laabs, Forquer and Ellifritz are scheduled for bond hearings at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29.