Michael Blagg

This is a perplexing case for me. I am sure like so many other cases there are those who are convinced Michael Blagg is guilty, just as two juries have found, and there are those who are just as convinced that he is innocent. For me I cannot be completely sure one way or another. I have seen several different television shows on this case over the years and between that and my research it feels as if every time I would begin to lean one way I would find something that would have me lean the opposite way.

On November 13, 2001 Michael Blagg called 9-1-1 in Grand Junction Colorado. He reported that he had come home from work and that the back door was open, the house was empty but there was a pool of blood in the master bedroom of the home. Michael's wife, Jennifer and their six year old daughter Abby were missing. Law enforcement would arrive and would state that with the amount of blood they found in the master bedroom that they believed someone was killed in that room. The following month they would announce that the blood belonged to Jennifer.

There was a large search made for Jennifer and Abby and the family put up a $3,000 reward. While publicly law enforcement were saying Michael was not a suspect, we all know how that works. Another search took place in April of 2002 but nothing was found. The following month law enforcement decided to started searching the local landfill. It was said that two days after the search began Michael left Colorado without informing law enforcement where he was going. Then again they apparently had him under surveillance and followed him anyways to his mothers home in Georgia.

On June 4, 2002 Jennifer's body was found in the landfill. It was reportedly found near trash that had come from the company in which Michael had worked. Abby was not found but at that point was presumed dead. The body was officially identified on June 6^th and within hours Michael was arrested in Georgia. The affidavit for Michael's arrest stated that Jennifer was being abused prior to her death and that in the days leading to her disappearance she had sought help in ending her marriage. An employee at the Colorado Legal Services reported that she had come into their office alleging that she was being abused by her husband and was scared. She was unable to see an attorney at that time and she reportedly left the office angry.

Michael sat in jail on a million dollar bond until December of 2002 when a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to take the case to trial, at least when it came to Jennifer. The judge then reduced his bond to $500,000 and gave permission for him to live with his mother in Georgia if it was posted. It was, in January 2003. By May of that year the judge ruled against the defense when they asked for a change of venue due to the publicity in the case.

Michael's first, of two trials, began in March of 2004. He was charged with first degree murder in the murder of Jennifer, abuse of a corpse and two counts of theft. Now, I take issue with this because the two counts of theft were not related to the murder of Jennifer or the disappearance of Abby. The theft charges came from the fact that while under surveillance by law enforcement they had discovered that Michael had stolen a shredder and a table from his employer. It seems obviously that he did steal those things and I am not saying I do not believe he should not have been charged, or punished for it, but, I take issue that those charges were wrapped in with the murder charges.

So, just what did the State of Colorado have against Michael Blagg? That is a bit difficult to determine. There seemed to be a lot of “evidence” but in my opinion much of it seems to be theory and some would say coincidences. That being said, many do not believe there are any coincidences when it comes to murder, but I have to be fair and say I am not so sure. Of course there was the pool of blood in the master bedroom of the home that they shared that matched Jennifer. Prosecutors would say that when her body was found it her dental retainer was near the body. This led them to believe she was murdered in her sleep as it was reported that Jennifer only wore the devise in her sleep. Investigators say there were numerous “blood smudges and stains” in the family minivan that would later be attributed to Jennifer. While none of this proves that Michael Blagg murdered his wife, it does prove that she was likely murdered in her home and at least that the murder may have driven the family minivan after committing the murder.

It was said that co-workers of Michael reported that on the day of the murder they saw him moving at least one large box to place in the dumpster and that uncharacteristically, refused help when offered. It was also reported that an “unidentified individual” called Abby's school and told administrators that she would not be attending class on November 13^th.

Prosecutors zeroed in on the story of the witness who testified that Jennifer had gone to the Colorado Legal Services and reported being abused. They also seemed to make a lot of the fact that they discovered Michael “frequently used an escort service” several times a month where he would get a massage by a topless woman and that there were several thousands of pornographic pictures on his computer. To be clear there was no indication that the pictures were anything other than legal pornography.

After twelve hours of deliberations the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all charges. Michael was sentenced to life without parole and it seemed that aside from normal appeals, the case was all but over. While there had been no evidence against Michael when it came to his daughter, Abby, and he was never charged in relation to her law enforcement has always presumed that Abby was also murdered.

Then in April of 2014 a woman named Marilyn Charlesworth testified about domestic violence before the Grand Junction city counsel. Marilyn Charlesworth had been a juror in Michael's trial. It was learned very quickly that she had lied or at the very least concealed this to attorney's “so she would have a better chance to be on the jury,” which obviously worked. In June of 2014 Michael's conviction was “thrown out.” I saw this phrase several times as opposed to the word “overturned” as I have most often seen throughout my time researching cases.

In August of 2017 once again Michael Blagg pleaded not guilty in the court. His second trial began in February of 2018 and lasted five weeks. Eighty witnesses, including Michael, testified at the trial. The defense had a theory that the judge refused to allow them to present, something I will get into in a bit so they argued that the fact that since Abby had never been found, nor had there been any evidence she was murdered that he was innocent. They also argued that the blood in the van could have been tracked in by an investigator. Now, that is a common tactic used by defense attorney's but there was some indication that there had been an issue with an investigator leaving his DNA in a “drop of blood in the home.” The jury took seventeen hours to deliberate and on April 5, 2018 once again he was convicted on all counts. He was immediately sentenced to life without parole.

The defense had wanted to argue that Jennifer was killed by a “child predator” that had focused in on Abby. They even had a potential suspect to name. Apparently the man was a sex offender from Canada. Now, since the judge did not allow the defense to present this theory, let alone name a suspect I cannot say what evidence the defense had in this area and against the man. I am obviously not one in which I believe that innocent people, no matter any past crimes, should not be accused of a crime without evidence. However, I would still like to know what evidence or information the defense had on this theory, especially if they intended to name someone specific. I believe it would be unfair, without knowing, to say that their theory did not hold water. We have seen case after case in which prosecutors and investigators refuse to entertain another suspect when they are convinced they “have their man.” I believe that could have easily been the case in this case considering that it appears that the theory by the defense seems to have come at the second trial, some seventeen years after the murder and some fourteen years after the first conviction. Prosecutors tend to not want to admit mistakes, especially in cases such as these where they have already obtained a conviction. That being said, again without knowing all the facts, I cannot say that the prosecutors were wrong in their thinking.

I do admit that I do have an issue with the fact that there has been nothing found pertaining to Abby. It was said that the landfill was searched for almost seven weeks in the search for her after finding Jennifer and nothing was found. There was no blood found in the home or the minivan connected to Abby. Now, of course she could have been murdered in which a way that blood evidence would not have been left, such as strangulation. But, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Obviously prosecutors never had enough evidence to charge him in Abby's murder and they even stated if they did, they would have, and they would have sought the death penalty. It is my belief that is one of the reasons that investigators spent so much more time than normally spent at the landfill. I am sure that they wanted to find her to bring closure to the family, but I am also just as sure they wanted to find her to bring more, and higher charges against Michael. That being said I feel as if they would have done everything possible to find evidence of her death just to make the case stronger and to prove they were correct. This is what leads me to believe they could find nothing, which leaves a big question mark in my mind.

I admit that the testimony that Jennifer had gone to the legal aid center is a bit troubling to me. However, I am uncertain that there was any evidence beyond the witness that testified. We have all seen eyewitness testimony to be proven wrong. How do we know for certain that it was Jennifer? Did she sign something? Why would she tell the receptionist she was being abused? Would that not be something she likely would have only shared with an attorney? Is there any evidence that she attempted to contact another attorney? In addition to this I did not hear anything in which her family reported that she was frightened and was being abused. If she was so scared and wanted a divorce to the point that was alleged by the person from legal aid would she not have told her family and attempted to get out? People who file for divorce or speak to an attorney generally have a plan on where they will go and how it will be done, especially those who are allegedly being abused and yet the only indication my research found of this was the testimony by the person from the Colorado Legal Services. Something just does not sit well with me on that.

With all of that said, and knowing statistics as to how often it really is the husband, I am just not certain how I feel about this case. I will say I do not believe that the theft charges related to his work should have ever been included in the charges for murder. They were different cases, that presumably were unrelated but in my opinion could taint jury members as to Michael's personality. Of course there are those who could say that the evidence of pornographic images could have done the same, but those were not illegal, nor was he facing charges for them.