{"id":98565,"date":"2018-07-30T14:59:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T20:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kevin-wade-folsom-pleads-guilty-in-haycamp-slaying-gets-25-years\/"},"modified":"2018-07-30T14:59:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T20:59:00","slug":"kevin-wade-folsom-pleads-guilty-in-haycamp-slaying-gets-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kevin-wade-folsom-pleads-guilty-in-haycamp-slaying-gets-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Wade Folsom pleads guilty in Haycamp slaying, gets 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kevin
Kevin Wade Folsom pleaded guilty Monday to the second-degree murder of James Box Jr., and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.<\/span>Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kevin Wade Folsom on Monday pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of James Lloyd Box Jr., who was fatally shot Jan. 2 on Haycamp Mesa east of Dolores.<\/p>\n

After accepting the plea deal, District Court Judge Doug Walker sentenced Folsom to 25 years in prison, plus five years of supervised parole.<\/p>\n

During an emotional sentencing hearing, Box\u2019s parents gave statements to the court about the impacts of losing their son, a Southern Ute tribal member.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo wake up in the morning and realize my son is gone hurts inside,\u201d said Eddie Box. \u201cIt has been a very hard and difficult time, and we miss our son.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recounted how his son enjoyed participating in Native American ceremonies and sang traditional spiritual songs. The family has had to control their anger, Box said, but feels the court is taking care of justice through sentencing.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s mother, Betty Box, said that the last time she saw her son, he looked well and was looking to improve his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to come home and be with family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The family is very spiritual, Betty Box said, and James embraced the traditional ways, including participating in sweat lodge ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents, we would always melt when he gave us a big bear hug. He is with our ancestors in another world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She then spoke a passage in the Ute language directed at her son.<\/p>\n

Folsom told Walker he understood what the plea agreement meant. When asked what his plea was to the second-degree murder charge, Folsom stated \u201cguilty.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the plea deal, other charges against Folsom were dropped. They include possessing of a weapon as a previous offender, tampering with a deceased human body, tampering with physical evidence, possessing a controlled substance, committing a crime of violence, and being a habitual criminal.<\/p>\n

During the sentencing hearing, District Attorney Will Furse said Folsom was a habitual criminal with convictions for burglary and escape charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo sentence can bring back a son, brother and father,\u201d Furse said. \u201cThis sentence is the best attempt to serve justice. Hopefully, these proceedings will provide some closure to the loss the family has suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Folsom sat handcuffed in beige prison garb and was closely watched by two Montezuma County sheriff deputies standing on either side of him throughout the one-hour proceeding.<\/p>\n

He gave a short statement during the sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings got out of hand, and I made a poor decision. A lot of people are suffering, and I apologize,\u201d Folsom said.<\/p>\n

Folsom\u2019s father, Kayo Folsom, also spoke at the sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur pain pales in comparison to the Box family,\u201d he said. He expressed \u201cprofound sympathy\u201d for the family and \u201cprofound guilt\u201d for the actions of his son.<\/p>\n

The killing took place on the night of Jan. 2 in the San Juan National Forest east of Dolores off Haycamp Road. Folsom was arrested Jan. 3 and accused of second-degree murder, which was then elevated to a first-degree murder charge.<\/p>\n

He has been in custody at the Montezuma County jail under a $500,000 bond. In April, Folsom pleaded not guilty, and the case was set for a three-week trial in September. But on Monday, Folsom changed his plea to guilty of second-degree murder under the plea deal.<\/p>\n

According to court records, on the night of Jan. 2, Folsom, Box and Box\u2019s wife drove to Haycamp Mesa and partied in an area off Indian Ridge Road. Meth use allegedly was involved, according to an incident report in court records.<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin reported that a citizen contacted him Jan. 3 about a man who had been fatally shot.<\/p>\n

After a three-hour search, deputies found Box\u2019s body with a bullet wound to his head. They arrested Folsom that day as he drove on Colorado Highway 145 and County Road M.<\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit by sheriff\u2019s Detective Tyson Cox, Folsom left the scene of the slaying, then attempted to make arrangements with the citizen to dispose of Box\u2019s body. Box\u2019s clothing had been removed. Folsom allegedly told Cox that Box had been shot before he shot him.<\/p>\n

The affidavit states that Folsom said the three went to Haycamp to party and use meth. Folsom said he heard a gunshot during a fight between Box and his wife.<\/p>\n

Folsom said he did not know who had the gun or who had brought it, but he said he saw Box \u201cbleeding profusely.\u201d Folsom stated that he picked the gun off the ground and shot Box in the head \u201cto put him out of his misery,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Folsom reportedly said he did not call 911 because he didn\u2019t want to be arrested for the drugs and shooting, and he did not believe Box would live that long because he\u2019d lost a lot of blood.<\/p>\n

According to an obituary in The Durango Herald, Box, 42, grew up on the Southern Ute reservation and has two children. His Native American name is Buffalo Horse.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Ignacio man identified as victim of shooting<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25 years in prison for slaying of James Box Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,75,168,44,13,60,199,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-98565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-court-preliminary","tag-crime","tag-dolores","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98565"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=98565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}