Murder trial in Longmont postal shooting set for February

Oct. 19—A woman accused of killing the father of her child in Longmont is now set for trial in February, but prosecutors said they are planning to try to rejoin the case with her accused co-conspirator.

Devan Schreiner, 27, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jason Schaefer, 33.

Schreiner was set to stand trial Oct. 10, but that trial date was canceled due to rulings on late defense and prosecution motions.

At a hearing Wednesday in front of Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler, Schreiner's defense attorney Jennifer Engelmann re-entered a not guilty plea and asked for a five-day trial.

But Boulder Deputy District Attorney Carlos Rueda told Butler prosecutors were planning on filing a motion to rejoin Schreiner's case with that of her co-defendant, Andrew Ritchie.

The statement drew an immediate and emphatic objection from Engelmann, who noted the case had already been continued twice and that a separate judge had already ruled the cases should be tried separately.

But Rueda said the basis for the original ruling was a legal strategy that defense attorneys are no longer using.

Butler said he would review a motion, as he would also need to get input from Ritchie's attorneys and so could not issue any ruling Wednesday.

In the meantime, Butler set the case for trial starting Feb. 27, noting that date might have to be changed if the cases were rejoined, as defense attorneys said they were not prepared for a two-defendant trial.

Attorneys were also in disagreement about the length of the trial. Rueda asked for a 10-day trial, but Engelmann said five days would be sufficient.

Engelmann noted that Butler's rulings in two motions precluded two defense expert witnesses, which significantly shortened the defense's case.

Butler said that based on the prosecution's assertions, he would set the trial for two weeks.

Ritchie has his own trial set for Dec. 5, but attorneys have said that it would make sense to try his case after Schreiner's, which means that date could also be moved back if the defendants are not joined.

Schreiner and Ritchie are accused of plotting to kill Schaefer while he was delivering mail in southwest Longmont on Oct. 13, 2021.

According to an affidavit, just after 12:30 p.m. on that date, Schaefer was shot three times next to his postal delivery van, near a cluster of mailboxes on Heatherhill Street just west of Renaissance Drive.

Two employees of the Longmont post office, upon arriving at the scene, asked police whether the shooter was Schreiner, noting the two had been in a custody dispute.

Just two days before the shooting, Schaefer had filed a request to modify parenting time, and witnesses said Schreiner appeared upset that Schaefer had recently started dating Schreiner's 19-year-old sister.

The morning of the shooting, according to the affidavit, detectives said cell phone data shows Schreiner and Ritchie were both at her Fort Collins apartment before they drove to Ritchie's home in Loveland.

At that point it appears Ritchie then took Schreiner to the Loveland post office, and Schreiner began her route as a Loveland postal carrier while Ritchie drove into Longmont and began following Schaefer on his route.

A rideshare vehicle used by the Englewood prison where Ritchie worked as a guard was seen on camera several times following Schaefer's postal van, and Ritchie's cell phone data and GPS data from Schaefer's postal scanner also appeared to be in the same location for most of the morning, the affidavit states.

Surveillance cameras then detected Schreiner's SUV — identifiable by a missing hubcap on its passenger side — driving into the neighborhood of the shooting, ultimately parking on Renaissance Drive south of the shooting scene.

Security cameras picked up a person walking from the area of the SUV north toward Schaefer. Another security camera picked up the person approaching Schaefer's van, picked up the sound of gunshots, and then showed the person running from the area, according to the affidavit.

Security cameras then captured the person running south before Schreiner's SUV was again seen, this time leaving the area.

The suspect in the videos was originally described as a man in a dark hoodie, wearing a blue mask. But detectives said a photo later recovered from Ritchie's phone depicts Schreiner in a similar outfit.

Ritchie, in an interview with police, said Schreiner the day of the shooting said "she had everything she needed" and that "today was the day."

According to the affidavit, Ritchie then left the Longmont area before the shooting and was seen eating lunch with friends at a Hooters in Loveland.

Meanwhile, at 11 a.m. both Schreiner's own postal scanner and cellphone were tracked to Ritchie's home and remained stationary until about 1 p.m., with no outgoing transmissions from the cell.