The Mesa County Sheriff's Office investigated the area surrounding a remote pond outside Grand Junction after an epoxy specialist posted a YouTube video documenting 12 pairs of shoes he said he found there, speculating that it could have been the work of a serial killer.
"We have investigated all the reports we have received and, at this time, no evidence of any crime has been detected," said Wendy Likes, Mesa County Sheriff's Office spokesperson.
The YouTube video, titled "LEVI INVESTIGATES EP1 – POSSIBLE KILLER ON THE LOOSE," was posted last month by Levi Comstock, owner of Countertop Epoxy in Grand Junction. That post and a follow-up video garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok as amateur sleuths latched onto the case and posted their own videos and comments with crime theories.
Comstock declined an interview request from The Denver Post on Thursday.
"Each time our deputies and investigators responded, the items appeared to be trash and illegal dumping, which is very common in the desert areas here," Likes told The Post. "We also do not have multiple reports of missing females in Mesa County. If we receive further reports, we will respond and investigate as we do with every report of possible criminal activity."
In the video, Comstock said he was out four-wheeling along the Book Cliffs in western Colorado where he lives when he found multiple pairs of high-heeled shoes surrounding a pond in a remote area. Comstock can be seen walking around the pond and showing pairs of discarded shoes, which he said were in different sizes and various states of disrepair.
Comstock said he called friends who brought dogs — not trained to be cadaver dogs — to search the area. Initially, Comstock said he contacted the sheriff's department and was told they weren't interested, but in a follow-up video posted shortly after, Comstock said police were investigating.
"I don't know if we have a serial killer or what it is," Comstock said in one video.
In the second video, Comstock gathered a small group of volunteers to search the area. He and the volunteers touched the shoes and combed the surrounding area. At one point, the volunteers found a bundle of fabric in the dirt that they believed to be a bag of bones. Comstock unraveled the bundle, which turned out to be rocks wrapped in a T-shirt with wire tied around it.
"Why would you be trying to get clothes to sink?" Comstock asks in the video.
Comstock encouraged viewers to leave comments and contact local police if they have any information about the situation.
Combined, the two YouTube videos racked up about 134,000 views and more than 1,300 comments with people speculating about a serial killer or potential crime. The YouTube channel Countertop Epoxy features around 1,000 videos documenting the company's epoxy jobs all over the world.
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