On February 28th, 2017 a Lincoln County Grand Jury indicted former Toledo resident, 48 year old Denver J. Hart, for the nearly twenty year old homicide of his then four month old baby girl, Kristen Casey-Lynn Hart. Kristen’s death occurred on November 18th, 1997 inside of the Hart’s family residence in Toledo. The investigation into the death of Kristen was originally closed in 1997 and labeled as a case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The investigation was re-opened in July of 2016 when a family member of Kristen’s brought forth information implicating Denver Hart was responsible for the homicide. At approximately the same time, a Boundary County (Idaho) Detective contacted local Detectives with information pertaining to Kristen’s death which he had learned from monitoring Hart’s inmate mail while he was in custody in the Boundary County Jail.
Toledo Detective Pitcher then travelled to Boundary County and with the assistance of the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office arranged for an interview with Hart. During the interview Hart provided a verbal and written confession admitting responsibility for the death of Kristen. Hart also sent a letter to the Lincoln County District Attorney detailing his involvement in Kristen’s death.
In November of 2016 Hart was sentenced to a life sentence in Idaho after pleading guilty to the murder of his stepfather, Michael Rocha, after Boundary County Detectives located Rocha’s burned remains during a search warrant of his property. Hart received a second life sentence for a lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor charge out of Kootenai County (Idaho) which involved an autistic juvenile victim.
