Travis Forbes is a dangerous man, the kind of potential serial killer who even gives Colorado criminal defense lawyers chills. It took police five months to unravel the network of lies, half-truths and fictions he wove around the murder of one young woman and the brutal sexual assault and attempted murder upon a second. Police say there was little doubt that he would’ve killed again, had they not been able to finally wring a believable confession out of him.
Police say that Forbes was masterful in crafting his cover-up stories-he had an excuse for every accusation and an angle to cover any discrepancy. They may never have caught him, had one of his victims survived the attack and provided crucial DNA evidence that allowed Forbes to be finally cornered to the point where he offered a confession in return for a plea deal-no death penalty and no sex crime charges.
The type of cat-and-mouse game on which Forbes led police for five months is not dissimilar to the dance performed in the courtroom when attorneys for the defense and prosecution attempt to unravel all the details in the web of whatever crime is being tried.
In many cases, the sheer lack of credibility a suspect like Forbes has, adds value to his defense attorney. It is not uncommon in trial to see as part of the defense that if the suspect is such a liar, that his confession must also be considered suspect.
In this case, however, the issue is moot, as Forbes cut a plea deal and as a result pled guilty to murder, being sentenced as a result to life in prison. Police have called the woman who survived Forbes’ attack a “super hero,” who had the courage and wherewithal not only to survive such a brutal assault, but to save the DNA evidence that eventually ended Forbes’ reign of terror.
