The Denver Gazette’s Jenny Deam reports that the Routt County District Attorney’s Office is now facing multiple investigations after dropping a high-profile sexual assault case involving Kiersten May, a nationally ranked cross-country skier who reported an alleged drugging, rape, and strangulation after a high school graduation campout near Steamboat Springs.
This is not a true-crime rehash, and nobody should try to prosecute the suspect from a keyboard. The suspect was not charged, and the allegations remain allegations. But the public-trust problem is enormous. According to The Gazette, the case reportedly included medical, forensic, and toxicology evidence that May’s family says corroborated her account, yet the DA’s office declined to prosecute. Now the people responsible for accountability are themselves the subject of accountability.
That is the civic outrage lane. When a woman reports a brutal assault, the case gets dropped, the explanation lands like courthouse fog, and multiple investigative bodies start circling, normal Coloradans are allowed to ask the obvious question: what the hell does it take to get a serious sexual assault case treated seriously in this state?
The Bullet Point Brief
- The DA’s office dropped the case in May 2025. May had reported the alleged assault to the Routt County Sheriff’s Office in May 2024. Nearly a year later, the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office declined prosecution.
- The Gazette reports several pieces of evidence raised serious questions. The investigative file reportedly included medical records showing neck bruising from strangulation and an injury from the rape exam, a toxicology report showing a muscle relaxant, CBI DNA evidence matching the suspect, and phone searches that should make any prosecutor sit up straight.
- The suspect denied criminal conduct. According to The Gazette, he said the encounter was consensual, acknowledged putting his hands on May’s neck but said it lasted only three seconds, and refused to be interviewed by law enforcement. He was not charged, which is why the paper did not name him.
- Multiple investigations are the flashing red light. Four misconduct complaints have been filed with Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation against District Attorney Matthew Karzen and Deputy District Attorney Joseph Bucci. A separate Victim Rights Act review found the DA’s office failed to treat the family with fairness, respect, and dignity.
- The office says it stands by the decision. Karzen told The Gazette prosecution decisions must be based on facts and law, not preferences, interest groups, or politics. Fair enough. But “trust us” is not a public accountability plan. It is a locked door wearing a tie.
My Bottom Line
This is a public-trust faceplant. Prosecutors have hard jobs. Not every ugly case can be charged. Not every allegation can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That standard matters, and it should matter. But when a case this serious reportedly comes with medical evidence, forensic evidence, toxicology evidence, and disturbing digital evidence, the public deserves more than a declination letter and a shrug from behind government glass.
Kiersten May is not the punching bag here. The outrage belongs pointed at the office with power. The DA. The deputy DA. The process. The explanation. The opaque machinery that tells citizens to report crimes, cooperate, relive trauma, wait patiently, and then accept a sealed-off decision because the letterhead says District Attorney.
And spare us the sanctimony about public trust from officials who treat transparency like a biohazard. Trust is not something government gets to demand after it locks the door, mumbles “objective evaluation,” and hopes the peasants wander off. Trust is earned by competence, communication, seriousness, and accountability.
If the decision not to prosecute was legally sound, show the public why as much as the law allows. If the process failed, fix it. If Colorado needs a second-look law for serious unprosecuted sex crimes, then let’s have that debate yesterday. Because when the accountability office becomes the subject of accountability, the public has every right to stop being polite.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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