Nurse rests after kidnap ordeal

BRIGHTON, Colo. – A nurse who was allegedly kidnapped by her ex-fiance and escaped three days later at a Wyoming hotel was home safe with family Saturday, but she remained traumatized by the ordeal and has not yet spoken with family about it, her mother said.

Julie Ann Kilgore, 48, was taken from her Colorado home Tuesday, and she escaped her suspected kidnapper and former fiance, 50-year-old Dennis Gene Cox, Friday in Laramie, Wyo., authorities said. Cox, who reportedly fled Laramie, was killed hours later in a shootout with police in downtown Fort Collins, Colo.

Kilgore’s mother said the emotional damage to Kilgore remains deep.

“She’s OK physically,” Colleen Kilgore, a psychotherapist, told the Associated Press on Saturday. “But she’s been very, very traumatized to the point where we haven’t been able to talk about it yet.”

According to authorities, the nurse was at her Brighton home watching a 7-year-old niece Tuesday when she abruptly left with her ex-fiance. Family members became suspicious because Kilgore left the girl unattended. And when Kilgore didn’t immediately return, relatives called police, who then secured a warrant for Cox’s arrest on kidnapping charges.

Brighton is about 25 miles northeast of Denver, and about 55 miles south of Fort Collins.

After Kilgore escaped Cox on Friday, authorities said, officers who arrived at the hotel found her hiding under a desk in the lobby, and Cox was gone.

A manhunt ended a few hours later in Fort Collins, where Cox was fatally shot by police after authorities say he pointed a gun at officers near a downtown bus stop.