Suspect in Westminster attempted kidnapping is linked to other crimes that same morning

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — The man arrested in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a Westminster student was linked to numerous other crimes that occurred that same morning, according to court documents obtained by 9NEWS.

On Oct. 25, a girl was walking to school alone just after 7 a.m. when she said a vehicle approached her near West 125th Avenue and Delaware Street, Westminster Police said.

On Friday, police announced that 31-year-old Jeremiah Mullins was arrested in the 12000 block of North Melody Drive and taken into custody without incident. They also recovered a black handgun.

According to an arrest affidavit from Westminster Police, the girl reported that the man drove up next to her pointed a gun at her, and told her to get into his car or he would shoot her. She reported that she was scared, but lied to the man and told him there was money in her backpack.

The man grabbed her bag and drove off, the affidavit says. The girl then stood in the middle of the street and waved down another driver who called the police. 

She later told police the man was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, but said she saw that he had a tattoo on his face that began near where his beard and hair start. She also described a tattoo on his hand but said it did not cover his fingers.

She described the bag to police and said it had her school-issued computer inside as well as folders, notebooks, and a water bottle.

Police in both Westminster and Thornton responded to several other crimes that morning and believe Mullins, who is currently on parole, is responsible for all of them.

The first occurred just after midnight that morning in the 1200 block of Huron Street. A woman said she was sitting in her car finishing a conversation when a man entered her vehicle on the passenger side and pointed a gun at her, the affidavit says. She drove it for a bit and then stopped and the man got into the back seat and told her to get out.

She did and said she believed the man tried to start her vehicle but couldn’t because it was electric and there was a special way to start it, the affidavit says. Fingerprints from inside her vehicle were later determined to be a match to Mullins.

The second incident was reported in the 12000 block of of Washington Center Parkway. A man at an apartment complex there said he was sitting in his car warming it up around 6 a.m. when a man with a flashlight began banging on his window, the affidavit says.

He reported that due to the flashlight, he initially thought the man was a police officer so he opened his door. When he did, he said he saw the man had a gun. According to the affidavit, he said the man ordered him to hand over his wallet, phone and keys and threatened to shoot him.

He gave the man his phone and wallet and told him the keys were in the vehicle. The man ran from the area and flagged someone down to call 911 and realized his key fob was actually in his pocket. When he returned to the area with an officer, his car was still where he had left it, the affidavit says.

Just after 9 a.m. that same morning, Thornton Police responded to a call in the 1400 block of Grant Street. The victim said she had just returned home and was getting her young child out of the back seat of her vehicle when a man in a gold sedan approached and pointed a gun at her, the affidavit says.

She says the man told her to drop her keys, grab her baby and run, according to the document. She said the man followed her in the sedan and told her to get in his car.

She says she pleaded, “I have my baby. Just let me go,” the affidavit says. She eventually got into her building and once inside saw the man running toward her vehicle. She looked out again and saw the gold sedan that approached her moving eastbound.

Investigators observed video from the complex, which showed the man running toward the victim and then back to the sedan with a Walmart bag. The victim later confirmed there had been a bag from Walmart sitting on the passenger seat of her vehicle, the affidavit says.

Police determined that the phone taken during the first incident pinged near the location of the Grant Street incident and in the area of the attempted kidnapping. Police also found that Mullins was in possession of the student’s backpack and the Walmart bag from the other victim when he was arrested.

According to police, the gold sedan involved in all the incidents was reported stolen on Oct. 23 from the 2200 block of West Park Centre Drive.

The case was presented to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Friday afternoon for an official filing decision. The DA’s office filed several charges, including aggravated robbery, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, aggravated motor vehicle theft and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

Mullins was also identified as a suspect in a theft that occurred on Oct. 13 in Thornton. In that case, the victim woke up to find a man standing at the foot of her bed, according to an arrest affidavit.

When she woke up the man ran out of her apartment. She said she found that her kitchen window screen had been cut and that a plant that had been on the window sill inside but sitting outside on top of an air conditioner unit, the affidavit.

Near the AC unit was a backpack containing mail and a Colorado Department of Corrections ID card for Mullins.

Court records show Mullins was on parole. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery with a weapon. The original charges in that case included second-degree kidnapping, but that charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal.

A judge set a cash-only bond of $1 million.