An Alaska man, who was indicted in 2023 after new evidence was discovered in a 2006 Longmont murder case, has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation.
John Angerer, 55, pleaded not guilty in May to second-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Angela Wilds.
Angerer was set for a motions hearing on Oct. 31 ahead of trial, but Boulder District Judge Andrew Hartman ruled there was enough evidence that Angerer was incompetent to stand trial to put the case on a mental health hold and vacate the motion and trial dates. Angerer will now undergo a competency evaluation at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo to determine if he is capable of assisting in his own defense at trial.
Angerer is currently in custody on a $1 million bond and will remain in custody during the evaluation.
In February 2023, Angerer was indicted by a grand jury after prosecutors said they found new evidence in the case.
Wilds’ decomposing body was found on June 4, 2006, by two hikers in the South St. Vrain Canyon, roughly 3 miles outside of Lyons. The body appeared to have been dragged from a nearby shallow grave by a large predator, and deputies located a pair of yellow ski pants, a sleeping bag, and a pillow in a pillowcase, all neatly folded up near the gravesite.
The body remained unidentified until DNA analysis confirmed it was Wilds five months later. The Boulder County Coroner’s Office was ultimately unable to rule on a cause or manner of death, though an outside forensic pathologist brought in by prosecutors opined that Wilds died of homicide by asphyxiation.
In 2009, DNA evidence connected Angerer to Wilds’ body and the area where the body was found. Angerer was arrested and charged with second-degree murder but a judge ruled that there was not enough evidence for the case to proceed past a preliminary hearing, and Angerer was released and the case dismissed.
But prosecutors continued investigating and developed “significant and new evidence,” leading to the case being presented to a grand jury.
While the specifics of the new evidence were not released, prosecutors said the investigation “has included identifying new witnesses, re-interviewing individuals previously known to law enforcement, consulting with forensic pathologists, and submitting further items to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for testing and DNA analysis.”