Fate of RV camp residents on private property near Colorado Springs uncertain in wake of fire

Oct. 31—Tom Cadwell and other people living in five old RVs on vacant private land off B Street are still mourning the loss of their friend, Jose Delgado-Diaz.

He was fatally stabbed following a fire on the property on Oct. 10, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. His body was found more than four hours later behind a nearby adult entertainment club.

"We miss him," Cadwell said Monday. "It's still a touchy subject."

Two RVs and a van burned during the blaze, which Stratmoor Hills Fire Chief Shawn Bittle told media could have consumed 20 or 30 houses because the land dead-ends in a residential neighborhood south of Colorado Springs.

Adding to the community's grief is that they have been portrayed as a homeless camp, Cadwell said.

They object to being called homeless, he said, as they have been identified by fire officials, law enforcement and media reports.

"We're not homeless," Cadwell said. "That's degrading us in a sense."

Residents have jobs or earn an income selling scrap metal, for example, said Cadwell, who owns Cadwell's Home Repair LLC.

Some have college degrees, he said, and just because they don't live in traditional homes doesn't mean they don't have rights.

"We're here trying to make it work," he said. "We're human, too. We deserve that chance to get back on our feet."

But residents now are unsure of their fate.

People are living there legally and not considered to be squatters or trespassing because Greg Lee, one of two people charged in Delgado-Diaz's death, had permission from Savers Trust to live there and allowed others to sublease, said Mindy Madden, strategic services manager for the county's code enforcement.

Lee had been charging $100 a month in rent, Cadwell said.

However, living on the property with no running water, bathrooms or electrical hookups and in RVs without permitting violates local residential codes, Madden said.

"Because of the appearance of the way people assume it's a homeless camp, but it's not," said Kevin Mastin, interim director of El Paso County Planning & Community Development.

Cadwell said he moved to the property two years ago with Delgado-Diaz, and the pair were misled by a man who told them he owned the property. He did not.

Their plan was to build tiny homes. Instead, another man, Lee, decided he would purchase the 1.4-acre lot in the Stratmoor Hills neighborhood that backs a creek and carry out the plan to develop a subdivision.

Lee had put a down payment on the land, said Joe Brinkerhoff, managing trustee of the current owner, Savers Trust, based in Durango.

Lee and another resident are now in jail on no-bail holds, facing first-degree murder charges.

Bittle, the fire chief, told El Paso County Commissioners last week that the fire is suspected to be arson and the murder of Delgado-Diaz occurred "when a member of the homeless camp murdered the person they thought had started the fire."

Sheriff's deputies arrested Lee on Oct. 12, and Gabriel Clark was arrested Oct. 21.

Brinkerhoff, whose trust has multistate real estate holdings, said he gave permission for Lee to stay on the land but has a contract saying no other people could live on the property.

"Greg (Lee) told me he was going to clean it up," said Brinkerhoff, a Republican who wanted to make a bid for a seat in Colorado House District 59 in 2018, but a snafu with paperwork prevented him from continuing his campaign.

Along with the burned vehicles, the land is littered with discarded furniture such as sofas and chairs, other household items and garbage.

Bittle told county commissioners last week that firefighters discovered raw sewage, abandoned vehicles, large shanties, flammable liquids such as gasoline used to run generators and other toxic contaminants while fighting the Oct. 10 fire.

Cadwell says he knows the trash has gotten out of hand, and he hauls away at least one load a day. His goal is to get a Dumpster.

Code enforcement opened a case for violations of county code in May 2021, Madden said, and the fire happened while the county has been working through the civil, not criminal, legal process.

Savers Trust did not respond to a contempt citation, and an advisement hearing is set for Nov. 10, which would be followed by establishing a trial date, County Administrator Bret Waters said.

It's a typical procedure for code violations, Madden said.

"The property owner wants to comply, typically," she said. "In this case, the owner has been complacent and doesn't want to take responsibility."

Brinkerhoff said he's been trying to work out a compromise with county officials.

"I'm trying to get somebody to help with this situation," he said. "I want to fix the problems and keep the neighbors happy."

Owners' campers are too old to lease space in an RV park, Cadwell said.

"We're trying to build each other up and be beneficial to the community and not bring the community down," he said.

Bittle said law enforcement has been dispatched to the site nearly 70 times, and his fire protection district has responded to incidents more than three dozen times in the past two years.

He called the situation a public safety hazard and said he wants county officials to do something about it.

"We're not able to go on that property without a court order to clean it up," said Madden.