Woman Who Allegedly Beats Man To Death With Baseball Bat Is Charged

9-27-2013 Colorado:

A family is grappling with grief and confusion after a 42-year-old man was beaten to death with a baseball bat.

"My husband is the most loveable, caring person I know," Denzel Rainey's widow told sister station KCNC.

The woman arrested for the attack, however, allegedly told authorities she beat Rainey because she believed he sexually assaulted a child. She was formally charged Friday.

According to the arrest affidavit, 30-year-old Forsythia Owen told police she grabbed a bat and hunted Rainey down after a child said he had sexually abused her.

Rainey was found Sunday in an alley in the Denver suburb of Englewood. Owen allegedly told police she went to that alley because he slept there, and according to the affidavit detailed her attack on him by swinging her hands "back and forth...demonstrated how she struck Rainey over and over again."

Rainey suffered multiple injuries: skull fracture, six broken ribs, broken left hand and two broken arms.

Lisa Rainey told KCNC that her husband had been homeless due to struggles with alcohol.

“I just don’t know why, what caused her to do this on Denzel, and if Denzel did anything to provoke it,” Lisa Rainey said. “I need to know the answers for closure for me and closure for my kids.”

Neighbors told KCNC Rainey kept to himself and "never bothered anyone." One woman KCNC spoke with alleged that Owens was the troubled one.

“From my understanding of looking at her, you could tell she was on something,” Veronica Evans said. “That’s why my little sister and I would stay away from her.”

Owens has been arrested before on assault charges. She's currently being held at the Arapahoe County Detention Center without bond.

Friday, Owens appeared in the Arapahoe County Court and was formally charged with first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree assault with a deadly weapon. She is expected to enter a plea in December.

It's unknown at this time if a child was sexually assaulted. ..Source.. by 11KKTV.com

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Colorado woman says she killed suspected pedophile

9-13-2013:

A 30-year-old woman was arrested Monday in connection to the beating death of a homeless man in Englewood Sunday.

According to an arrest affidavit, Forsythia Owen admitted to using a baseball bat and beating 42-year-old Denzel Rainey to death.

She told investigators that she killed Rainey because he and another man had sexually molested a female child on a separate occasion.

Rainey was found in an alley in the 3600 block of Sherman street. Police say he died of blunt force trauma.

An autopsy showed Rainey sustained a skull fracture, breaks to both arms and six broken ribs.

Owen is well-known in the community. She spoke often to neighbors, who say she's a mother.

"Most of our conversations were just like, 'hi, how are you doing? Your daughter is really cute,'" a neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said.

Owen is currently being held at the Arapahoe County Detention Center. She is facing first-degree murder charges. ..Source.. by Robert Garrison

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Englewood woman gets 38 years for killing man with baseball bat

5-8-15:

Forsythia Eliese Owen was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison for killing Denzel Rainey with a baseball bat in September 2013. Rainey was savagely beaten to death by Owen, who had falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her child, in the early-morning hours while he slept in an alley .

Before the sentence was handed down, Owen's attorney cited mental illness as a mitigating circumstance in the case. The prosecution, however, argued that Owen's lack of concern — demonstrated by a pattern of refusal to medicate, and instead self-treat by abusing marijuana and alcohol — made her mental illness an aggravating factor.

The night Owen murdered Rainey she had been smoking marijuana and drinking with friends. She unjustly accused Rainey, who she knew, of molesting her daughter.

Owen dismissed the counsel of friends, who told her to call police, and instead took the matter into her own hands. She "engaged in misplaced, vigilante justice," said Jason Siers, senior chief deputy district attorney in Arapahoe County.

Rainey was found, bleeding profusely from multiple wounds to his head and body, in an Englewood alley. He was taken to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

Owen was arrested the day after the attack.

"Rainey was not guilty of any of those acts," said District Court Judge Marilyn Leonard Antrim. "His memory should not be tarnished."

Defense Attorney Joseph Archambault asked the court to sentence Owen to 16 years, the minimum; Seirs argued for 48 years, the maximum.

Archambault said Owen has been taking medication since going to jail after her arrest, that she's been in counseling and has a great desire to again be involved in her young child's life.

Owen's mental health issues (she was described in court as being bi-polar) surfaced years ago when she stabbed a boyfriend in 2002, Siers said.

Owen was imprisoned for that attack, but didn't learn from it, Siers told the court.

Her violent, delusional behavior "escalated from a stabbing to a homicide," Seirs said. "Based on her history, I'm skeptical."

Owen, dressed in a red jail jump suit and shackled, addressed the court.

In a voice shaky with emotion, Owen apologized for the "pain" she caused Rainey's family and friends, as well the pain inflicted on her family and friends by her actions.

"I do know this is not acceptable," she said of the fatal attack.

In handing down the 38-year sentence, Antrim noted that Owen is best behaved when she is in custody. Owen "prefers the siren call of drugs and alcohol" to prescription medication and counseling, Antrim said.

Antrim said she has concerns that Owen would, if free, "once again move to the sound of the siren song."

After the sentence was announced, Owen turned to the gallery and said "I love you," three times to supporters. A deputy leaned toward her and told Owen to face forward.

A short time later, she was lead from the courtroom. by Kieran Nicholson