BOULDER, Colo. – A Boulder County judge sentenced Adam Densmore to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday after a jury found him guilty last month of killing his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Mead.
The Boulder County jury on April 26 found Densmore, 33, guilty of all the counts against him: first-degree murder, tampering with a corpse, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence.
Densmore also received an additional 12 years for the tampering and abuse charges in addition to his life term at Friday’s sentencing because of the egregious nature of the crime, the judge said.
Prosecutor Ken Kupfner described Mead’s mother’s anguish at not being able to find closure because she didn’t get to say goodbye to her daughter one final time. Investigators had to show her mother a picture of Mead’s tattoo from the autopsy for her to believe it was her daughter.
“I think it is important to send a message that it is a distinct and separate act with distinct and separate consequences – what he did to Ashley Mead’s remains,” said Kupfner. “In this particular case, it means her family, her friends never got to say goodbye, never got to have closure.”
There were also motions filed in court Friday by several local agencies seeking thousands of dollars in restitution payments from Densmore for the money spent on extradition costs, landfill searches done while looking for Mead's body, and the cost of prosecution. The judge is expected to rule on those motions in coming days.
Densmore killed Mead, 25, in February 2017 in Boulder, then scattered parts of her body as he drove to his parents’ house in Louisiana, then to Oklahoma, where he was caught by police with his and Mead’s year-old daughter.
Densmore’s defense had argued it would be difficult for prosecutors to prove Densmore murdered Mead, but prosecutors had several pieces of evidence, including voicemails in which Densmore was heard telling Mead he would be taking their daughter to Louisiana to his parents’ house.
Jurors deliberated for 11 hours before finding Densmore guilty on all counts in April.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Mead’s father spoke via Skype, and pleaded to know where the rest of his daughter’s remains were located. Some parts of her body have never been discovered.
Densmore did not make a statement in court Friday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
