Who Is Kyle Free? Sad New Details About The Man Who Was Murdered And Kept In A Garage
Five people were charged in connection with his death.
gettyIt's been one year since Kyle Free, a 32-year-old man from Clifton, Colorado, was shot and killed in the garage of his girlfriend's home.
Even though it's been a year since he was murdered, Free's family and police didn't learn of his fate for several months. After leaving his body in her garage for weeks, his girlfriend and other people who were charged in connection with his death, buried his body in a remote part of the Mesa, where he was eventually found.
As the hearings begin for the five people involved in his death — his girlfriend, Rebecca Walker, John Eddy, David Castro, Timothy Russman, and Nathan Ryan — Free's family hopes for justice and continues to mourn their loss of a loved one.
"Today has been very difficult for me," Robin Graham, Kyle's mom, said. "Just knowing that I was carrying on my normal life and didn't really know what had happened to my little boy."
"Just him missing for seven months was driving us crazy."
So who is Kyle Free and how did he die? Here's everything we know.
1. What happened?
According to the arrest affidavit, Walker, 34, called the police in April 2018 because Free was having problems with meth. She received a restraining order from him, which also led to police removing her children from the home that they shared.
After obtaining the restraining order on April 10, Walker told police that she called Eddy after Free started "acting erratically." She said "she knew if she called John Eddy he would take care of (killing) Kyle," the arrest record for Eddy reads.
While she was waiting for Eddy, Walker locked Free inside the garage. She then waited in the living room while Eddy and his friend, David Castro (nickname, "Silence"), confronted Free in the garage. She said she heard Free yell that he hadn't done anything, and then heard four gunshots.
Eddy and Castro left, and Walker went into the garage and found Free on the floor of the garage, "wheezing." She locked him in the garage so he couldn't get out and went to her mother's house.
2. They left his body in the garage.
In the days following the murder, Walker left her boyfriend's body in their garage. She told police how she had to step over his body to get to her freezer. She said she tried to use a spray paint can and a lighter to create a torch so she could try to burn a tattoo off of Free's leg in hopes of concealing his identity.
She was unsuccessful.
3. She disposed of his body.
After waiting a few days until Free's body loosened after being stiff from rigor mortis, Walker said she was able to put him into a large garbage bag. She layered the bag with electrical tape to keep in him a fetal position.
Walker then put him into a 50-gallon tub that was lined inside with a camouflage tarp and then shut the lid.
She reached out to Timothy "Zane" Russman, 28, on Facebook messager, writing: "I need a hole. Soon. Seriously. Not joking."
4. They took his body to a remote location.
When Russman arrived at Walker's home, he brought along Nathan Ryan, 30. The put the body into Russman's truck before going back home to drink some beer. They took the body to a remote location in Mesa County, dug a shallow grave and then covered Free's body with rocks.
Free wasn't reported missing until April 27. The tote he was buried in became unearthed on Dec. 5 after Russman's arrest. He had led police to the site where he buried Free.
5. Eddy bragged about the murder.
The trail led back to Eddy and Walker — and it was mostly Eddy's fault. Multiple people told police that he had been bragging about murdering Free and even showed people photos of his bloody body.
And days before Free was reported missing, police had gone to his home to serve him an arrest warrant. He was nowhere to be found, but Castro was there and he had a limp thanks to a .22-caliber bullet "in his butt." Police later made the connection that Castro was accidentally shot by Eddy in the rear end during the murder.
Eddy and Castro were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They both face a potential life sentence without parole or the death penalty. Russman and Ryan were arrested for accessory, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Walker is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She covers all things news, pop culture and true crime.