POSTED: 10:28 a.m. MDT October 21, 2003
DENVER -- Standing alongside the mother of college student who was abducted and killed by a man who had posed as a cop, Gov. Bill Owens on Tuesday threw his support behind new legislation that would outlaw red and blue flashing police lights in private cars.
Lacy Miller's body was found in a remote part of Poudre Canyon on Jan. 26. The 21-year-old University of Northern Colorado student had been missing for a week. Prosecutors said that Jason Clausen drugged the UNC sophomore, beat her to death and kept her body in a storage shed before he dumped her in the canyon northwest of Fort Collins. He also apparently tried to use gasoline to set her body on fire before wrapping it in plastic and duct tape and burying her. It was not known how badly Miller was burned when authorities discovered her body.
Miller's mother, Wendy Cohen, joined Owens and Rep. Bob McClusky as the legislators proposed new tougher laws aimed at police impersonators.
Anyone who is not a police officer and who uses flashing blue and red lights in their vehicle would be subject to a felony charge. The law would also increase the penalty of impersonating a cop from a misdemeanor to a felony with mandatory jail time.
In April, Clausen, 22, confessed to killing Miller to avoid a possible death sentence. He is now serving a life sentence in prison.
Clausen, a former security guard, had a red-and-blue flashing light installed on the dashboard of his white Ford Expedition, according to court records. Police say he posed as a cop to pull Miller over -- less than a block away from her home.
"If this kid wouldn't have had lights, she'd still be here. She'd be in college, she'd be working, she'd be watching TV and she's not. And I don't want another family to have to go through that," said Cohen.
Clausen was also identified by a police dispatcher who said he was the man who pulled her over Jan. 5 in a suspicious traffic stop.
Clausen, a former Fort Collins Police Explorer Scout, was known to "act like a cop," according to sheriff's records. Besides the police light, records confirm that he had law-enforcement training and tools, including at least four guns, handcuffs, and a bail bondsman's badge.
