Before a Colorado mail carrier was fatally shot on his route, he was tailed by a friend of the alleged killer — but that friend contends he was attempting to prevent the attack.
Andrew James Ritchie, 34, of Loveland, was arrested on suspicion of complicity to commit murder in the first degree in connection to the death of Jason Schaefer.
Schaefer, 33, was fatally shot Oct. 13 while delivering mail in Longmont. His ex-girlfriend, Devan Schreiner, 26, was formally charged with first-degree murder Tuesday. The two were involved in a custody dispute concerning a kindergarten-age child, investigators say.
According to the affidavit for Ritchie’s arrest, cell phone records show that he followed Schaefer along his mail route in the hours preceding the shooting, and that he was on the phone with Schreiner throughout much of the morning.
Ritchie, who works for a federal prison near Denver, allegedly was romantically involved with Schreiner.
When contacted by a Postal Service investigator on the night of the killing, Ritchie initially said he had not seen or spoken with Schreiner that day and denied being romantically involved with her.
The affidavit states detectives collected surveillance video and images from the area of the shooting that show not only Schreiner’s vehicle but a Dodge Durango that was assigned to Ritchie through his second job.
GPS data from Ritchie’s phone on the morning of Oct. 13 shows it tracked a similar route “and at times appears to be in very close proximity” to Schaefer’s scanner. Late in the morning, Schaefer stopped by his apartment, and Ritchie’s phone stopped in that area. When Schaefer resumed his mail route, Ritchie apparently followed him until a few minutes before noon.
Schaefer was fatally shot as he was filling a row of mailboxes around 12:30 p.m.
In an interview with a detective — after his initial denial — Ritchie said he dropped Schreiner off at work and then “drove around.” He said he talked with Schreiner multiple times on the phone during that morning because she had spoken of killing Schaefer and he was trying to persuade her not to go through with it, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Ritchie said that he took it upon himself to drive to Longmont and find Schaefer’s truck and wait to confront Schreiner. Ritchie admitted to following Schaefer’s mail truck for most of the morning and waiting outside the man’s apartment during his break. While he waited, he was on the phone with Schreiner, who, he said, told him that she would not harm Schaefer.
Ritchie said he then spoke briefly to Schaefer, warning him to watch out for his ex. Ritchie told police that at that point he felt he had done all he could, and he went back to Loveland, 15 miles away.
According to the affidavit, five shots were fired at the site of the ambush, in a residential neighborhood. The affidavit said a person was seen running away from the mail truck.
An officer in charge of the Longmont Post Office arrived at the scene of the shooting and told police of a known conflict between Schaefer and Schreiner — who had previously worked for the Longmont branch of the post office but left in mid-September. Shortly afterward, she began working as a mail carrier for the Loveland branch.
On the day of the shooting, Schreiner scanned out to begin her route from the Loveland post office at 10:15 a.m. and returned before 4:30 p.m. Her work vehicle’s GPS unit was stationary from around 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., investigators said.
She was contacted around 5:30 p.m. at her home and agreed to drive to Longmont and meet investigators. She showed up in the black Nissan Rogue that had been seen near the shooting, and she was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a blue mask — the same as the person who had fled the scene, the police report says.
