Kenia Monge: The Woman in the White Van // 630

Summary

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Going West: True Crime

Episode 631 – "Kenia Monge: The Woman in the White Van"

Release Date: July 31, 2026
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode unravels the 2011 disappearance and murder of Kenia Monge, a 19-year-old woman of remarkable promise who went missing after a night out in Denver. Hosts Daphne and Heath shine a light on the chilling descent of her killer, Travis Forbes—a man who, beneath a seemingly upstanding exterior, hid the intent and makings of a serial predator. The episode details the police investigation, near-misses, and the courageous survival of another victim, Lydia Tillman, revealing how these cases intertwined and ultimately led to justice. The hosts explore themes of trust, predation, victim-blaming, and the haunting "what ifs" that pervade stories of preventable crime.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kenia Monge: Her Life and the Night She Vanished

[02:46–05:48]

• Background: Born in Honduras (1992), moved to Colorado in 2004. Adjusted quickly, learned English, and was close to her stepdad Tony Lee and siblings.
• Achievements & Ambitions: Received the Mayor's Youth Award (2007), leader with City Wild, aspired to be a news broadcaster or criminologist.
• The Night of Disappearance:
  • March 31, 2011: Went out with friends using a fake ID (common in her social circle).
  • Planned to meet best friend Janet Gomez at Club Lavish but never arrived (07:04–07:46).
  • After failing bouncer checks, she and her friends headed to Bar 24K.
  • Left her purse, wallet, and phone with friends inside 24K; was ejected by bouncers for intoxication, ending up alone and vulnerable on the street (07:25–08:47).

Quote:

"I wish they weren't allowed to do that. It's like, okay, she's drunk, she's a young woman. Why are you kicking her out and putting her on the street by herself? ... This is what killed her." – Daphne [07:46]

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2. Immediate Aftermath and Investigation Stalling

[10:07–15:50]

• Friends and boyfriend become worried after no response from Kenia.
• Her parents begin their own investigation; friends initially lie about underage clubbing but crack under questioning by Tony Lee (11:04–11:24).
• Key clue: A cryptic text found on Kenia’s phone from “Travis, the guy with the creepy white van :)” asking if she got home safe (12:01–12:24).
• Frustration as police enforce a mandatory 72-hour wait before officially investigating, despite clear indications of foul play (13:06).

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3. Enter Travis Forbes: The Killer’s Double Life

[15:50–20:35]

• Initial Interviews: Travis recounts picking up Kenia drunk, taking her to get cigarettes, then claims she left with another man (14:21–15:50).
• First Impressions: Described as “fit, blonde, blue-eyed, standup guy” (16:04). He cries during police interviews and appears genuinely concerned—but Tony Lee notices his shaking hands, gets a “gut feeling” that Travis is hiding something (17:15–17:18).
• Forbes’s Background:
  • Runs a gluten-free granola business, but has a record for theft, drug offenses, and disturbing behavior—breaking into homes, stealing women’s underwear, marking them with initials, and assaulting female joggers (18:13–20:07).
• Hosts’ Take:
  • “If that isn’t the markings of a fucking total creep and possible serial killer, I don’t know what is.” – Heath [19:19]

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4. Cumulative Suspicion and Breakthroughs in the Case

[20:35–29:01]

• Physical and Behavioral Red Flags:
  • The morning after Kenia vanished, Travis is “frazzled,” preemptively brings up her disappearance to the bakery owner—even before she’s reported missing (20:35–21:12).
  • Police search his van: the interior reeks of bleach, is immaculate, but the filthy exterior and signs of rural dirt arouse suspicion (24:36–25:10).
• Crucial Surveillance Footage:
  • Monica, Travis’s bakery landlord, finds footage of Travis unplugging security cameras, scrubbing floors with yellow gloves, and (most chillingly) loading a duct-taped cooler into the freezer (26:13–29:01).
• Destruction of Evidence:
  • Employees see Travis burning items in a grease barrel; the barrel yields no DNA on testing (29:01–29:44).

Quote:

“He never cleaned the kitchen, let alone wore yellow rubber gloves… then there was Travis… reaching up to unplug [the recorder]… so creepy.” – Daphne [27:19]

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5. Alternate Leads & Public Deception

[29:44–35:08]

• Police explore alternative suspects after video surfaces of Kenia entering an apartment with four men post-bar; ultimately it’s clear these men were not responsible (31:49–32:46).
• Travis goes on local TV, tearfully denying involvement, but his conflicting body language draws suspicion (33:40–34:02).
• After the interview, he flees Colorado, escalating detectives’ concerns. Kenia’s family holds out hope but increasingly fears the worst.

Quote:

“He’s kind of almost indicating without saying it. ... Also just so interesting that he’s even going on the news in the first place.” – Heath & Daphne [34:02–34:17]

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6. The Second Victim: Lydia Tillman’s Survival and the Break

[41:55–46:53]

• Horrific Attack: On July 4, 2011, after police stopped actively following Travis, he brutally attacks, rapes, bludgeons, and sets fire to the apartment of Lydia Tillman in Fort Collins.
• Remarkable Survival: Lydia, despite shattering injuries, leaps out her window and is rescued; she survives after weeks in a coma, later demonstrating extraordinary resilience (43:42–45:14).
• Connecting the Dots: Similarities—use of bleach, brutality—lead police to match DNA under Lydia’s nails to Travis Forbes, finally securing substantial evidence (46:13–46:53).

Quote:

"Love saved my life. That and ovaries of steel, but mostly love… I choose love and peace over fear. And I won." – Lydia Tillman [44:50, 64:05]

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7. The Confession and Recovery of Kenia

[49:52–61:32]

• Turning the Screws: Detective Nash Garoul builds rapport, then challenges Travis’s ego, leading to a confession (49:52–50:51).
• Travis tries to bargain—will confess if not registered as a sex offender (50:09–50:46); police refuse the deal, but he ultimately leads them to Kenia’s buried body in Keensburg after five months missing (54:32–56:05).
• Chilling Details: Travis graphically admits to raping, strangling, storing Kenia’s body in a cooler in a shared bakery freezer, then burning her clothes before burying her (58:04–59:38).

Memorable Moment:

"He pointed at one of the detectives' feet and said, 'You're standing right on top of her.' ... The dramatics of that, the blood curdling scream. Like what, what does he think? This is a movie?" – Daphne [55:48]

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8. Justice & Aftermath

[61:32–65:20]

• Travis Forbes is sentenced to life without parole for Kenia’s murder and receives an additional 48 years for the attack on Lydia.
• Prosecutors refuse his request not to be labeled a sex offender (61:53–62:43).
• In court, Lydia, still recovering, tells Travis:

  “You caused me no harm. My spirit, my soul, my mind remain untouched. May you find peace in this life.” [63:16]

• The hosts reflect on the resilience of Lydia, the irreplaceable loss for Kenia’s family, and the near miss that could have allowed a true serial killer to continue undetected.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the killer’s facade:

  “Wolf in sheep’s clothing is a picture of him.” – Daphne [01:51]
  “If that isn’t the markings of a fucking total creep and possible serial killer, I don’t know what is.” – Heath [19:19]

• On victim-blaming and systemic failures:

  “This is what killed her. If she was able to stay with her friends, she would have been fine.” – Daphne [07:46]

• On Lydia’s recovery:

  “She had to relearn how to read, speak, and write... yet still she maintains a sense of humor whenever she tells her story.” – Daphne [43:44]

• Final Reflection:

  “Truly an evil piece of shit.” – Heath [65:39]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic/Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------|------------------| | Introduction & Setup | 01:44–02:46 | | Kenia’s Background & Night Out | 02:46–07:46 | | Kenia Kicked Out of Club | 07:46–08:47 | | Discovery of the "Creepy White Van" Text | 12:01–12:24 | | Forbes' First Interview & Suspicion | 15:50–17:18 | | Forbes’ Criminal Record | 18:13–20:07 | | Bakery Surveillance & Cooler in Freezer | 26:13–29:01 | | Alternate Suspects and Travis's TV Interview | 31:49–35:08 | | Lydia Tillman Attack & Survival | 42:00–46:53 | | DNA Match & Forbes' Arrest | 47:33–49:52 | | Forbes’ Confession & Recovery of Kenia’s Body | 49:52–56:05 | | Travis Forbes Sentencing & Court Statements | 61:32–63:55 | | Hosts' Reflections and Closing | 64:12–65:42 |

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Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• Predators Can Hide in Plain Sight: Forbes’s public persona as a friendly entrepreneur concealed deep predatory tendencies and a long history of criminal behavior.
• System Failures Magnify Harm: Lapses such as the 72-hour reporting delay and bars ejecting intoxicated women alone contributed to tragedy.
• Survivors’ Strength: The account of Lydia Tillman is a powerful story of physical, emotional, and psychological resilience.
• Justice Arrived, but 'What Ifs' Remain: But for a handful of crucial details—like a single text message and a survivor fighting back—Forbes could have continued undetected.

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Note: For accompanying images and surveillance footage discussed, visit Going West’s Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Clips of interviews and key videos are also available for further context.

Transcript

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[A]

What is going on? True crime fans? I'm your host, he.

[B]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[A]

And you're listening to Going West.

[B]

Hello, everybody. Hope you're doing well today. We have an unbelievable story for you guys that involves probably the biggest wolf in sheep's clothing that we've ever talked about. Like, this is. This guy is like, open up the dictionary. Wolf in sheep's clothing is a picture of him.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of those cases where I feel like had he not got caught, he probably would have turned into a serial killer.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, we're going to talk about some seriously insane and horrific things for you guys today. So buckle up. And without further ado, this is episode

[A]

631 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[B]

In April of 2011, a 19 year old woman left a Denver nightclub after a night out with friends, only to vanish into the night. As investigators worked to retrace her final movements, a series of unsettling clues and one chilling text message pointed them toward a mystery that seemed to grow more perplexing with every lead. Months later, an unrelated act of violence would change everything, revealing a shocking connection that no one saw coming. This is the murder of Kenya Monje, the woman in the white van. Kenya Monge was born on January 26, 1992, in Honduras, spending the first 12 years of her life there until 2004, when she and her mother, Maria, migrated to the United States. And one of the reasons for this move was because they wanted to join Maria's husband, whose name was Tony Lee, in Colorado. Quickly after moving, Kenya began learning English and attended Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village. Colorado is like a small municipality just 30 minutes south of downtown Denver. She fit in very quickly, became incredibly close to her dad, Tony. I say her dad because she called him her dad, right?

[A]

Yeah. She thought of him as her dad.

[B]

Absolutely. And even got to become a big sister to Tony's kids, one of whom was only a few years younger than Kenya. So they became really close as well. Kenya was very intelligent and a little bit shy, but she was an incredible leader. Like, she was actually given the Mayor's Youth Award in 2007. So when she was, like, 15, for her ability to overcome obstacles in her life, she also became a crew leader with City Wild, which is a program in Denver where youths can learn about and get involved in the environment. As a teenager, Kenya's dream was to become a news broadcaster, or, interestingly enough, a criminologist. But after graduating high school, she focused on the former and started attending college for. For broadcasting. She moved in with her boyfriend, Lewis, and started working a job as a customer service representative. In the meantime, all while, she worked on directing a student film and becoming more involved in her school's community life. But she also loved going out and having fun, which is why, at 18 years old, unbeknownst to her parents, Kenya had a fake ID so that she could go out to bars with her friends, which I want to point out, it would have been normal back in. In Honduras for her to be drinking at 18, because the legal age was 18. You know, obviously it's not in Colorado, but.

[A]

But of course, she didn't live there at the time when she was 18, so it didn't really matter.

[B]

And a lot of her friends had fake IDs, too. So it's like this was a thing in her friend group. Everybody got them, so she got one, too. But one particular night, March 31, 2011, going out with friends would change everything. And even though her friends had this smart, amazing pact, something horrific would still occur.

[A]

Yeah, basically, Kenya and her friends had an agreement that when they would go out to the bars and clubs on the weekends, they would go together and then they would leave together and always look out for each other. But this particular night, Kenya was with A different group of young women who she didn't have that same pact with because she wasn't really that close with them. It was Thursday, March 31, 2011. It was a warm early spring evening and 19 year old Kenya headed to downtown Denver with these friends later that night. She had planned to meet her best friend Janet Gomez, along with a few other friends at a club called Lavish, But Kenya never showed up. So Janet called and texted her a few times around 11pm but she got no response. But apparently Kenya and the two girls that she was with couldn't get into Lavish because their fake IDs didn't get past the bouncer that night. He basically told them to beat it. So the three girls then decided to head over to a different bar that was close by called 24k. But Kenya and the girls hadn't told anybody that they were going to this bar. So when Kenya didn't arrive at Lavish, Janet just headed home and kind of assumed that Kenya was out with her other friends and that they would talk in the morning. Especially since Kenya was known as the responsible one in the group. You know, she really wasn't worried about her. And at first everything was great. Kenya and her two friends were drinking and dancing at 24K, the nightclub in downtown Denver, which boasted Moroccan style gold decor and lots of people ordering bottle services. Pretty typical of a nightclub.

[B]

Very 2011 as well.

[A]

Yeah, very much so. Well, Kenya left her purse, wallet and phone with her friends and even started dancing with a guy on the dance floor. Just kind of fully letting loose here. But then the bar staff noticed that she was a bit too intoxicated, so they kicked her out. Meaning that she was forced onto the street without any of her things.

[B]

I mean, I doubt there's like a rule. I don't go to nightclubs and I doubt there's a rule about this now. But I wish they weren't allowed to do that. It's like, okay, she's drunk, she's a young woman. Why are you kicking her out and putting her on the street by herself? Like, they should know better than that. Just for her safety. Because this literally changed that. This is what killed her. If she was able to stay with her friends, she would have been fine. And as we're going to talk about later, her level of intoxication might not even have been her fault. So the fact that they're just like, you're too drunk, get out of here. So irresponsible. And like, I wish there was something. I wish that you weren't allowed to do that.

[A]

Well, I think a lot of the times these bars are trying to protect themselves, right. They're saying, like, hey, if she sticks around and we continue to keep pouring for her, we're gonna get in trouble.

[B]

Totally. I just wish it was more like, instead of kicking her out, at least let her find her friends and, like, get her somewhere safe instead.

[A]

Yeah. But a lot of the times it's just like, I'm gonna grab you, you're gone, just put you out on the street type of deal. And unfortunately, neither of her friends witness this, so they have no way of knowing where she had disappeared to.

[B]

Right. Well, exactly. Because if. If. If the friends don't see this occur, they don't know she's been kicked out. They don't know where she went. That's what I mean. The bouncers should have at least let her find her friends first.

[A]

Right. And at this point, you know, her friends are still inside. They don't know where she disappeared to, but they kind of just assumed that she had maybe left with the guy that she was seen dancing with.

[B]

Of course.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is also really interesting to me because they were just dancing. And these friends surely know that Kenya lives with her boyfriend Lewis, you know, and is going home to Lewis that night.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I don't know if maybe it was because they were just drinking or, like, what they really thought about this. And to be fair, they're also getting drunk as well. It's very late. They have all of her things. They don't really know what to do. So I'm not. I'm not blaming them or saying that they should have not assumed that she went off with a guy, because what are they going to do about it anyway? They don't know where she is, and she has never found.

[A]

Right. And also, when you're young, things like this happen. You know, you go out to a club or you go out to a bar. It's loud, there's a lot of music playing. There's a lot of people. You get split up, somebody leaves. Like, it's just hard to, like, track her movements after this.

[B]

And like you said, as well, everybody knew her to be very responsible. So this isn't the friend that they're like, oh, my God, we have to find her. Who knows what she could be up to?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They're like, it's Kenya.

[A]

Yeah. She was known as the responsible one, as we mentioned.

[B]

Well, the following morning, Kenya's friends still hadn't heard from her, and neither had her boyfriend, Lewis. So Lewis texted Kenya's sister, Kim, and asked if she knew where Kenya was. But Kim said that she hadn't heard anything. So nobody knew where Kenya was. She still wasn't with her phone. So Lewis told Kim, who was about 16 at the time, to ask her parents, Maria and Tony, if they knew where Kenya was and if they didn't, to call the police. They, too, were oblivious of her whereabouts. So Maria contacted Kenya's friends, and they actually originally lied about where they had been the night prior because they didn't want to rat out their fake id.

[A]

Yeah, they're not trying to get caught for going out to the club underage.

[B]

But of course, they also don't know that this is a really serious matter and that every second counts. And we need to know what happened with Kenya and where you last saw her.

[A]

That's why, eventually, they did crack.

[B]

Yeah, they did. Actually, it was Tony who cracked them, because he's like, look, I know you're hiding something from me. Tell me what I need to know, because I need to find my daughter. And again, you know, everybody in her life knew that she was super responsible. But Tony's like, she wouldn't have left her phone and not return home to her home that she lives out with her boyfriend. Something is obviously very wrong.

[A]

Yeah, they know her.

[B]

So that night, April 1, 2011, one of the girls that had been out with Kenya went to the Lee's home to drop off her belongings, noting that she had last seen their daughter at about 1am she was dancing and having fun. She and the other girls stayed until the bar closed, though. After that, they didn't have a choice but to leave without Kenya. Maria looked through Kenya's cell phone to see that she had been texting her friends about where to meet up and when, and that she didn't send any messages after 11pm but her phone, of course, had a bunch of unread messages from her boyfriend and different friends asking where she was.

[A]

Everybody's trying to figure out where she's at.

[B]

But that's not all. Maria noticed a strange text message that was sent to Kenya's phone at around 7pm that night. So this is the night after Kenya went missing. It said, quote, hey, this is Travis, the guy with the creepy white van smiley face. Did you get home okay?

[A]

Okay, very weird. Very weird text to get. Um, but let's put a pin in that. Well, Maria didn't know who this Travis guy was, so she started asking Kenya's friends, but none of them had heard of her ever talking about a Travis guy. Because, remember, she was in a serious relationship with Lewis. Well, at this point, nearly 24 hours after Kenya went missing, her parents called the police to file a missing persons report. You know, they're. They're starting to really feel like something is terribly wrong here.

[B]

And now they know that there is this man asking after her. And so then they are putting the pieces together of, does that mean she was with a guy? Did she go home with somebody else and something happened?

[A]

Right. But of course. And we see this all the time in different true crime cases. Kenya was a legal adult at 19 years old. So the police told her parents that they had to wait 72 hours before reporting her missing. So Kenya's family and friends knew that something bad had happened, but there was just very little that they could do until the police could jump in. So Kenya's dad, Tony, called Travis to see if he knew anything, thinking that he may have been the last person to see her since he was asking if she got home okay.

[B]

I love that he did this. He's like, I'm just gonna fucking call this guy.

[A]

Yeah, why not? But after trying his number multiple times, Tony couldn't get Travis to answer until a day later, at 8pm on April 2, when Travis called Tony back. So Travis explained that he saw Kenya walking and that she seemed really drunk. So he asked her if she needed help. He said that she seemed out of it, but she got into his van anyway. While driving her home, she asked if he would stop by the gas station so she could pick up a pack of cigarettes. But when Kenya came out of the gas station, she apparently told Travis that she had run into another guy who was gonna take her the rest of the way home.

[B]

Of course. Yeah, of course. There's another guy.

[A]

Yeah, gonna divert. I'm gonna put the finger over here. And that was apparently the last time that Travis had seen her. With that, Tony called the police to report what he had heard, but they still wouldn't start investigating until she was gone for 72 hours. And at this point, it had been less than 48. So Tony called Travis back with some more questions. Of course, he's like, I need to figure out what's going on here. Including where exactly it was that he had last seen Kenya, to which he learned it was at a Conoco gas station in Denver. And Travis actually agreed to meet Tony there so that they could continue to talk about Kenya's last known whereabouts. Now, before leaving for the gas station, Tony, this protective dad grabbed his 9 millimeter pistol, which completely terrified his wife, Maria. Who was already worried about him going down there alone. When he left, she actually called 911, essentially begging them to send a police squad car to be there, you know, in case anything bad happened. Because obviously Tony doesn't know who this Travis guy is. He's just going down there and he thinks that something might be off about the situation. So he grabs his gun, and Maria's like, I'm not letting you do this. The police are going to be there. And to this, the police actually agreed to go meet at this gas station. When Tony got to the gas station, Travis was already there, and so were the police. And the cops actually did most of the talking to Travis.

[B]

Well, let's talk a little bit more about Travis. So he was fit, he had blonde hair and blue eyes and was reasonably good looking. In fact, Tony thought he looked like the kind of guy he'd want helping his daughter out.

[A]

Yeah, he looks kind of like a stand up guy, like you said. You know, it's kind of that. That wolf in sheep's clothing.

[B]

Well, Travis told police the same story that he had told Tony. So he was keeping the same story and genuinely seemed like he wanted to help. He actually seemed concerned about Kenya's well being. So much so that Travis started crying outside that gas station in front of Tony and police, which I think is actually kind of weird.

[A]

I actually think that makes you look more suspicious because you don't know this girl, do you, Travis? Right.

[B]

And so why are you crying? You know, he's just like, I'm just really emotional that I didn't help her.

[A]

Weird.

[B]

Yeah. So he's saying that he had promised to take Kenya home, and that's why he felt so bad, like it was his duty to get her home safe, and he didn't do that. And, oh, my God, I'm the worst person ever. He kept saying that he felt responsible for her being missing, that he wished he could have done more. So Tony reached out his hand and told Travis that he appreciated all the information. But when the two shook hands, Tony noticed that Travis's hand was shaking hard,

[A]

like shaking uncontrollably, like a leaf.

[B]

And in that moment, Tony says he knew he was shaking hands with the last person who had seen his daughter alive. And he got this overwhelming feeling that Travis was lying to him, that he knew exactly what had happened to Kenya and that she was dead. But without any proof, Kenya's family and friends pushed on and put up missing flyers all around town. And once they could officially report her missing, they got the help of a veteran Denver detective. And since they were still, of course, hoping that Kenya was alive, they had to act fast. They had officially lost 72 hours by that point. So every minute counted. Investigators immediately started looking further into 31 year old Travis Forbes and discovered that he had a gluten free granola bar business called Forbes.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

I mean, kind of adorable right now.

[A]

Yeah, it seems adorable, right?

[B]

He rented a space at a Denver bakery, and that's where he would bake and package the granola and then deliver it locally. And although on the outside he appeared to be this wholesome, kind, helpful guy who enjoyed providing his community with, like, tasty organic snacks, Police found that he had a small criminal record for theft and drugs. Because back in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he grew up, when he was a teenager, Travis broke into 16 different homes and businesses, stealing cash and other items like women's underwear, for which he served three years in prison. Now, the underwear thing obviously is really concerning because basically when police searched his home and they found these stolen items, including the underwear, some of them, like, either were ripped or they had holes poked into them, or they were marked with, like, initials, assumedly belonging to the woman whose underwear they belonged to.

[A]

Yeah, the initials of the victims that he stole from.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Which is so crazy to me. Like, it's creepy. It's not like he's got like, a criminal record for. Because I think this was before, like, weed was illegal in Colorado. It's not like, oh, he got caught with, you know, possession of a little weed. And maybe he broke into one business one time. It's like he broke into 16 different places. He was stealing women's underwear. He was writing the initials on it. Like, it's creepy as fuck. If that isn't the markings of a fucking total creep and possible serial killer, I don't know what is.

[B]

Well, for the drug thing, like, you're saying, it was not something as simple as marijuana. He had been addicted to prescription opioids. And after he was released from prison, he was actually arrested Once again, this was in 2004, after he threw rocks at two female joggers in Highlands ranch, Colorado, which he did plead guilty to that. What are you doing?

[A]

That's so. Yeah, again, like, if you didn't know the history of this guy, you would think just like Tony did, he makes granola. He's like this nice guy, the handsome blonde guy, you know, knight in shining armor. He's just trying to take care of Kenya. Oops, she went on her way. And I wish I could have done more but it's like you threw rocks at females, you stole their underwear. Like you're a fucking creep.

[B]

He's a creep. And hoo hoo. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

[A]

Yeah, it really is. But it seemed like the crime days were in his past, as the charges were a bit older. And he seemed to have cleaned up his life before starting his granola company. Or so they thought. Now, the morning after Kenya went missing, Travis went to the bakery. And the owner, Monica, noticed that he seemed frazzled. He told her about his evening and how he gave some girl a ride home and that she was now missing. But remember, she hadn't been reported missing yet, so he would have had no way to know this. So Monica thought that it was a bit strange, but she didn't think that Travis was involved. And she actually just kind of like shrugged it off. But a few days later, police showed up to the bakery to talk to Travis yet again. Finding him to be charming, calm and collected, he once again gave them the exact same story that he had a few days before, including that Kenya and the guy that she was linked arms with while they were apparently smoking cigarettes, even spoke Spanish together. Before walking off. He said that the guy didn't seem weird and that Kenya didn't look uncomfortable. So Travis just thought that, you know, he didn't really feel bad about leaving Kenya with this random guy. Then Travis says that he went to his girlfriend's house, a 23 year old woman named Carrie. Well, when police called Carrie in to see if Travis's alibi actually checked out, she confirmed that he had indeed been at her house that entire night. So police were forced to let him go again because they had absolutely no evidence that he was involved in what happened to Kenya. And they still didn't even know what had happened to her. Within days, Kenya's disappearance was all over the news, as you could expect, as police worked to secure a search warrant for Travis's van, since they knew at the very least Kenya had been inside his van. And when they finally obtained one, investigators couldn't help but notice that it reeked of bleach. Traditional old banks charge overdraft and monthly monthly fees. But why pay to get your own money? Chime is banking built for you. And that's why they have thousands of fee free ATMs.

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[A]

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[B]

when police searched 31 year old Travis Forbes van, you know his white creeper van, or I guess his wholesome little girl granola van.

[A]

Yeah, whichever way you want to cut it. Even though he described it as the white creeper van.

[B]

Yeah, his self described creeper van. It smelled like it had been sprayed down with bleach. And the inside was completely spotless, yet the outside was filthy.

[A]

Yeah, which is weird because if you're gonna like clean the inside of your van to the point where it's completely spotless, but the outside is.

[B]

You're gonna do both.

[A]

Dirty as fuck. Yeah, you're gonna do both.

[B]

Yeah. So that obviously is raising some red flags right away. Why are you cleaning the inside, not the outside? Because by the way, underneath the van they found caked dirt and weeds as if it had recently been driven somewhere rural. So investigators immediately became suspicious of Travis all over again and decided to check his cell phone records to see where he was at the time of Kenya's disappearance. They found that he had made and received several phone calls in a Rural area near a small town called Keensburg, which is about 40 miles or 65 kilometers from Denver. Nearly two dozen law enforcement officials headed to Keensburg to search the fields and small bodies of water in the area. They also went around to local neighborhoods, asking everyone they could if they had seen a white van or heard anything strange. But no one had. But then Monica, remember the owner of the bakery that Travis rented space out of, contacted them with some interesting information regarding suspicious security footage.

[A]

Yeah, she's kind of, she's kind of starting this investig investigation herself.

[B]

Monica is a baddie.

[A]

Yeah, she's. She's putting Travis on the map here.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, there's a few things in this case that if we were without them, we would have nothing. This is one of them. Monica really helped the investigators out here. Yeah, because when Monica presented them with the tape and they viewed it, the detectives absolutely lost their minds. So first and foremost, before Kenya went missing, Monica noticed that there was money missing from the bakery's register. So a couple days after Kenya went missing, she decided to look at the surveillance footage to see if she could catch whoever was stealing on video. But when she checked the tapes, it appeared that someone had unplugged the recorder. So she plugged it back in and rewound it until she could see who was messing with it. And on camera, guess who it was. Travis could be seen turning off the video security system because of course he was. So she re round the tape a bit further and watched Travis scrub the kitchen with yellow rubber gloves that went up to his elbows. She found that this was incredibly strange because he never cleaned the kitchen, let alone wore yellow rubber gloves to do so.

[A]

Yeah, there was just something that Travis typically didn't do. And so she's kind of picking up on little details here. Like why is he scrubbing the kitchen?

[B]

And also clean, why is he unplugging my security system? And the fact that you can see it on video, him reaching up to unplug it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So creepy. So disturbing. So she's like, what is going on here? Well, it gets worse because that wasn't even what blew detectives minds. What they found next was a video of Travis unloading a cooler from a wheelie cart into the bakery's industrial freezer. And that cooler was taped shut with black duct tape. Disturbingly, he was casually doing this as other employees walked by him, despite a duct tape cooler not being something a granola maker would need.

[A]

Yeah, it's not like you have to freeze the granola. So why are you pulling this heavy container into the freezer.

[B]

Well, that's exactly what Monica said. She's like, he never even used the freezer because none of the items in the granola bar needed to be frozen. Fresh room temperature bars that he would then bake. Nothing in them. It's not even like, oh, he has frozen berries in them. There's nothing that he put in the freezer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And she knows this. So she's like, not only does this look really disturbing, because it doesn't. It doesn't look like a food safe situation. You know, the black duct tape wrapped around this kind of, like, old looking cooler. It's not like a clean looking situation.

[A]

Yeah, not at all.

[B]

So she's noticing this, and this is what she brought to investigators.

[A]

Well, there is more, because then some of the bakery employees came forward to tell police that they had seen Travis burning items in a barrel in the back alley that same night.

[B]

A burn barrel is never good.

[A]

It's never a good sign, especially when we're talking true crime. Well, the barrel that he used was Monica's grease barrel. So it wasn't typically used to burn items in. So Monica had no idea why he had been using it to burn something in. Because this was also something that he just never did.

[B]

Right. I think that's what's really important to note here, is that he's doing a lot of things that are out of character.

[A]

Yes. Well, when police confronted Travis about this, he claimed that he was burning some moldy marijuana.

[B]

I do that all the time.

[A]

Which, of course, they did not believe. So they sent the barrel to the crime lab and ran it for DNA. But nothing came up from any of their tests. Meaning that Travis had completely burned and gotten rid of whatever it was that had been in that barrel. And deep cleaning, freezing a cooler and burning items didn't necessarily mean that Travis had murdered Kenya. But it was kind of feeling like he might have. It was getting very suspicious. But within a few days, one of the detectives found all new surveillance video from an apartment near the club that Kenya went missing from. And in that particular video, Kenya walks into the lobby of an apartment building with four guys, none of which are Travis. Now, at first, she and one of the guys are walking together, kind of holding arms, while two of the other guys are shoving each other in what appears to be somewhat of like a jokey argument.

[B]

It's really strange because it's hard to tell. We're gonna speed up the video for you guys for social media if you want to go check it out on our Instagram or on our Facebook or on our Tick Tock. But if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see it right now sped up. It's really bizarre because they're. They're shoving each other back and forth. But it doesn't look like anybody's worried about it, which is why it seems like it was probably a joke and just, like, drunken.

[A]

Probably just drunken shenanigans or whatever. Yeah. Well, Kenya then gets into the elevator with two of the guys. But then the guys that are kind of, like, fighting each other or, like, play fighting, whatever you want to call it, they start shouting something at their friends in the elevator. Now, this leads Kenya to exit the elevator and try to pull the other guys apart as she's touching their shoulders and their necks and kind of pulling on their arms.

[B]

Yeah, there's a lot of, like, touching going on.

[A]

Exactly. Yeah. So it seems very strange. Well, eventually, one of these guys walks outside as she continues to speak with the other, though, she then can be seen leaving to fetch the other guy. But after she does, while she's re entering the building, she actually falls, and this guy picks her up, and then they continue to chat, and then he leaves her and goes into the building while she just kind of idles there for a bit before walking out of that apartment building.

[B]

So once investigators saw this footage, they began to believe that Kenya had been drugged. Because even the friends that she went out with reported that she never became this intoxicated.

[A]

Yeah, that just wasn't Kenya's style. She didn't get, like, up.

[B]

It kind of appeared that something else was at play here. Kenya was very small. She was like, 411. And you guys can see on the video and photos of her, because she's short and she's kind of more petite, she would have gotten drunk a little bit faster than somebody else like me or you. But still, that just wasn't typical for her, though, right? It wasn't typical. So then they're starting to wonder if somebody at the club, maybe one of these guys or somebody else had put something in her drink maybe.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So investigators tracked down the men from the video and questioned them. And it turns out the one that she walked in with was the guy that she was dancing with at 24K, the nightclub, just before she got kicked out.

[A]

Yeah, the guy that her friends assumed she had left with.

[B]

Yeah. And he explained. So it's like she did actually leave with this guy, because he explained that after she got kicked out, he took her back to his apartment, but she ended up, leaving alone, which we can see on the video. So whatever happened to Kenya and had to have happened by somebody else after she left this young man's apartment building. Well, around the time of this interview, Travis actually went on a local TV news station and was interviewed regarding Kenya's disappearance. Just like he had to her father, Tony and the police. When he originally spoke with them, he cried and explained that he wished he could have done more and that he wished he could have known that she was going to go missing so that he could have intervened. He was also asked a series of rapid fire questions about his potential involvement. And here is that clip. Did you do something with her? No. Did you kidnap her? No. Did you sexually assault her?

[A]

I did not.

[B]

Did you murder her? I did not, no. He looks quite frightened.

[A]

Yeah. I think when Travis gets pressed, he starts to get a little rattled.

[B]

His responses are a little strange. And also we have to note that when he's asked that final question, if he was involved in whatever happened to her, he says no, but he kind of like shakes his head up and down. Yes. First.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes. He's kind of almost indicating without saying it.

[B]

Yeah. So it's really weird. And also just so interesting that he's even going on the news in the first place. I'm trying to think of a case where somebody, the person who was last seen with a victim, went on the news.

[A]

That, that, that. That woman that was murdered in Georgia, I think is. His name was Daniel. Oh, damn. Somebody out there knows exactly what I'm talking about. But Daniel, he goes on the news and he, you know, he gets pressed.

[B]

How do I never know what you're talking about?

[A]

He gets. He gets pressed in this episode, but he starts to kind of freak out. Like, at first he's nice and calm and cool and he's answering the questions that the reporter is asking. But then he almost gets caught in a lie and he starts to kind of freak out, like, publicly on camera.

[B]

So weird. Which is why it's really interesting as well that Travis did this. And it's almost like he wants attention. He wants to be like, yes, it was me. And I feel terrible. And I want everybody in Denver to know that I wish I could have saved her.

[A]

But I love that the reporter decides to do, like, this rapid fire questionnaire, so to speak.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Kind of to see if he gets rattled.

[B]

Right. It was very smart. So really interesting that he did this interview. And then, of course, it just made him look worse. Well, after the interview, he made himself look even more Terrible, because he fled Colorado altogether as police tried to keep track of his whereabouts. In the meantime, Kenya's dad, Tony, continued to look for his daughter. He even went dumpster diving and trash cans around the city to see if he could find her body.

[A]

That's just so tragic.

[B]

I know. He actually didn't tell Maria that he was doing this because he didn't want to upset her. And.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, because they. They want to believe that Kenya is alive out there and that they're gonna find her. But he's like, I need to utilize my time for good, and if she is dead, I. I might as well be out there looking for her body.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Because as you guys can imagine, the family was completely torn apart by Kenya's vanishing, especially with the grim suggestions that were being made. You know, they're starting to wonder if she was murdered. They know that she was last seen with this young man, that she's on the security footage with this group of other guys.

[A]

And there's. There's always going to be that hope that you're going to find your loved one, your loved one alive. But at this point, they're starting to kind of panic. They're starting to lose a little bit of that hope.

[B]

They are. They're still holding out, but it's definitely dwindling. Two weeks after Travis did that interview, Kenya's family received a call from detectives in Austin, Texas, saying that Travis had taken his girlfriend Carrie's car. And when he didn't return it, she filed a report believing that he had taken off with it. Which I gotta say is like, I'm sorry. This is, like, the only good thing that she did. She gave that alibi.

[A]

Yeah. Saying that he was with her that entire night.

[B]

Yeah. And I want you guys to remember this for later, because I don't want to spoil anything or tell you about it now, but, like, I'm. I'm really happy that she did this and that she wasn't just having his back throughout this entire situation.

[A]

But it's also kind of like, now he's affecting me. So now I'm right to put him on the radar.

[B]

Now he's like, I need my car.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Well, somehow a police officer in Austin had caught wind of the situation of, you know, Travis fleeing Colorado and actually noticed a Colorado license plate, only to discover that Travis was driving the vehicle. Thus, Denver detectives got on a plane, you know, to go to Austin to apprehend him. But guess what? Travis didn't stick around in Texas. He went down to Texas to Go to Mexico.

[A]

Classic. You know, I was thinking about this earlier. I wonder how many people, how many murderers have tried to do this. Like, I just wonder what the numbers.

[B]

Most of the ones we talk about,

[A]

I just wonder what the number is, you know, because, you know, even with, like, Scott Peterson tried to do this, there's. There's so many that we've talked about on this show.

[B]

Even Nick passed squall in the alley. Shehorn case that we recently cover.

[A]

Exactly. It seems like people are just, you know, that's the go to is to just pop the border.

[B]

Well, he didn't get far before being caught by Colorado investigators, who sat him down for yet another interview. The detective started by asking Travis if he did anything to Kenya, and Travis said, no. He then was asked if he hurt her, and Travis responded, no, we never touched. Now, this interrogation went on for over three hours, but Travis kept his same exact story from the first time that they ever spoke. But they did have a warrant to collect his DNA, so they obtained it. Now, because of the stolen car charge, police were actually able to extradite him out of Texas and back to Colorado on May 6, just over a month after Kenya vanished, where he ended up in jail. And this, of course, was great for detectives because then they knew exactly where he was, and they were able to continue to question him because they're like, all right, he's locked up. We've got him for a short amount of time now.

[A]

He can't flee and, you know, try to get away somehow.

[B]

So let's figure this out right now.

[A]

Yeah. But soon, Carrie dropped the charges against Travis for stealing her car.

[B]

So annoying girl.

[A]

And he was free once again. So police surveilled him for a couple of days, and guess where he went? Back to the rural town of Keensburg, the same place that he had visited the day after Kenya went missing. So they're starting to clock this. They're like, why does he keep going to Keensburg?

[B]

Yeah, what is in Keensburg? This is like a small farming town.

[A]

And they actually knew this because they were actually watching his bank statements and he had used his card at a gas station in Keensburg. So they went over there and obtained surveillance footage from the gas station, and sure enough, it was Travis. So they decided to search the area again to see if anything would come up. But of course, nothing did, though still, they really wanted to figure out why he was back in that town and if he was hiding something there. Now, while tracking his phone, they discovered that Travis was on the move yet again. But this time he was headed 60 miles or 90 kilometers north. A team of undercover cops followed suit and found that he was headed to Fort Collins, Colorado, which again is his hometown. And it's this very, you know, beautiful, quaint college town. Daphne and I have been there.

[B]

Adorable.

[A]

Yeah. So police were actually worried that if he did do something to Kenya, that he'd find a young woman in Fort Collins and he would strike yet again. Police watched as Travis headed into downtown Fort Collins and he was doing a bunch of weird shit, like he was jumping on cars and just generally being obnoxious. So Fort Collins police pulled him aside and they wanted to talk to him, but they were completely unaware that Travis was being watched by Denver police at that point. They didn't charge him with anything. The, the Fort Collins Police Department didn't charge him with anything. They just had a talk with him about his behavior. And after they were done with him, Denver investigators actually went up to the Fort Collins police officers and clued them in on who Travis was and let them know that they were looking after him because they're like, at this point, they're trying to watch Travis's every move. Well, that night he stayed at his grandparents house in town. And the Denver police came to the conclusion that he didn't seem to be doing anything harmful or wrong. And they couldn't just be up there like surveilling him for no reason. You know, they're kind of, at that point, they're, they're feeling like they're wasting their own time.

[B]

Well, this would be something that they would really regret later on because something would happen, something absolutely horrific. This decision would seriously backfire.

[A]

Yeah. So unfortunately, you know, because they didn't believe that Travis was doing anything wrong, they decided to leave Fort Collins and head back to Denver.

[B]

But also, to be fair, if he wasn't doing anything wrong, they can't keep wasting their time and money up there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If only they would have been able to stay a little bit longer. Because on July 4, 2011, something horrific would happen to a 30 year old woman named Lydia Tillman. She was walking home from seeing fireworks in Fort Collins when a stranger followed her home. When they got to her house, he pushed her inside and then proceeded to brutally attack and rape her. He beat her head, shattered her jaw, crushed her eye socket, broke her wrist and ribs, and then covered her body and home with bleach before setting her apartment on fire.

[A]

God, it's so just terrifying.

[B]

The man fled the scene, but miraculously, Lydia was still alive. She was nude, but she leapt out of her second story window to avoid the flames and ran into an approaching ambulance. So it seems like somebody had seen the flames and call 911 and they.

[A]

Yeah, right. Ambulance was on their way. She jumps out the fucking window like a superhero. And then she gets into the ambulance.

[B]

Well, medics asked Lydia if she knew the assailant, and after she said no, she suffered a stroke and went into a coma for five weeks.

[A]

That's just how brutal this attack really was. She was so terrified that after jumping from that window with, by the mind you, a bunch of broken bones after jumping from that window, she tells them that she doesn't know her assailant, and then she immediately has a stroke. Just because of the stress, anxiety, pain, everything that's going on in the moment.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, she was severely injured.

[A]

Yes, she was.

[B]

But this woman, I mean, she is truly amazing. She had to relearn how to read, speak, and write all together due to the damage that her brain sustained. Yet still she maintains a sense of humor whenever she tells her story. So we wanted to show you guys a little clip of her talking about what happened to her and actually giving her attacker forgiveness. July 5, 2011. I was totally incapacitated. I couldn't

[A]

move, speak,

[B]

think, eat, breathe. A stranger followed me home. Even though I don't remember jumping out of the window.

[A]

I

[B]

know love saved my life. That and over Ease of Steel, but mostly love. Love of myself, love of this life.

[A]

I just think that the resilience of this woman, the fact that she came back from these injuries, the fact that she even survived, because the assailants. That was not what the. The assailant intended to happen. Obviously, he wanted to kill her, but the fact that she survived and she has so much strength, and she doesn't let what happened to her really affect her life. Like, it's just truly amazing.

[B]

Yeah. Now, she's actually. She's done many interviews, but she's a yoga teacher now. You can see photos of her online, like, smiling and. And I mean, she is really, really pulled through after having her life completely turned upside down. Well, police originally thought that this had to have been done by somebody that Lydia knew. You know, this seemed like such a brutal, personal attack.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So they spent the next couple days pretty much scouring Fort Collins for people that Lydia knew who would potentially want to harm her. Though this is such a kind, amazing person. Like, nobody.

[A]

They couldn't find anybody. They're like, you don't have any, like, enemies?

[B]

Well, they talked to different men who she dated along with her friends and family, and nothing came to fruition. So when the Denver detectives heard about this case, they, of course, had a gut feeling that it was done by Travis after hearing the details about what had happened to Lydia and how her apartment was doused in bleach, just like Travis's van had been. So detectives tested the DNA under Lydia's fingernails, and days passed as they waited for news, because, remember, they had literally just collected Travis's DNA after he was arrested in Texas. So they, like, they had just gotten

[A]

his DNA, and had that not been done, they wouldn't have had his DNA to match, you know, the DNA from underneath Lydia's fingernails, too. So it's really incredible that. I mean, it's just good police work that they. They knew beforehand. They're like, I think we should get this guy's DNA, you know? But now they're at this point where they're waiting for the test to come back, and they're waiting on pins and needle. Well, after just a few days. On Friday, July 8, 2011, days after Lydia's attack, Denver police continued to surveil Travis as he hung out in downtown Fort Collins, carrying around a bottle of whiskey and people watching. What.

[B]

What are you doing?

[A]

He's just a fucking weirdo.

[B]

Like you were saying before, he's jumping on cars.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's carrying around a bottle of whiskey in public.

[A]

He's very erratic.

[B]

Very erratic.

[A]

Well, as the night went on. This part is crazy. An undercover cop spotted Travis following a young woman who was walking home by herself. So this officer approached Travis and asked him a couple of questions, including his name, to which Travis claimed he was Travis Kennedy, not Travis Forbes.

[B]

What a doofus.

[A]

Well, soon enough, Travis began following yet another young woman who appeared to be drunk. And they really didn't know what to do because, you know, they were so confident that Travis was dangerous. So they ended up arresting him on false reporting because, you know, he had given that other cop this fake name of Travis Kennedy.

[B]

They're like, we need to do something.

[A]

Yeah. However, this was only a misdemeanor, so Travis could be free to go as of Monday night at 10:30pm they're like, We can't hold you on this. So they essentially had less than three days to find enough evidence to pin something substantial on him. And crazy enough, just minutes before 10:30pm on Monday, July 11, 2011, right when they were, you know, the time was coming up to where they needed to release Travis. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation had enough evidence to prove that Travis Forbes was the person who attacked 30 year old Lydia Tillman. Thanks to how, of course, bravely she fought back, gathering his DNA from underneath her fingernails. So when Kenya's family received this news, it was incredibly emotional, as you guys can imagine, because this basically confirmed to them in their minds that Travis had done something to Kenya. But of course, investigators continued to question him about her disappearance in hopes of gleaning as much as possible. Now, the lead investigator, Detective Nash Garoul, kept a casual approach as he chatted Travis up in jail, talking about philosophy and books, as Travis was a pretty spiritual guy, you know, granola making, spiritual fucking God, I hate this guy. Anyway, and eventually he asked Travis about Kenya.

[B]

Well, Detective Nash basically told Travis that the next time they saw each other, he would be charging him for murder. Asking Travis what he wanted out of the deal, you know, for him to confess. He's like, next time I see you, you're going down for Kenya's murder. What do you want? What's going to make you confess?

[A]

You better give me something.

[B]

Well, Travis said, quote, I want to be out without being labeled as a sex offender. That's it. To that, Detective Nash said, quote, so you'll confess to everything if you can go to prison without being labeled a sex offender? Is that what you're saying? And Travis said, yes, that's what I'm saying. So obviously Nash was a little bit worried about, you know, him potentially retracting this. So he wanted to really push Travis's buttons. He said, quote, I think you're full of it. I don't think you're gonna do this. I think you're gonna back out and I think you're spineless. And I think it's all about you. It's a game. I think you're going to pull out.

[A]

Ah, really just kind of getting at Travis's ego here, right?

[B]

And so to this Travis said, quote, no, I won't. Well, shortly afterwards, as detectives strengthen their case, Travis did retract his offer. He was like, no, I didn't kill her. I'm not going to tell you anything because I didn't do that. But then he went back on that and agreed to show police where he buried Kenya Monhe admitting that he had killed her. This was in September of 2011, so five months since she vanished. And at that point, they still hadn't found any evidence regarding what happened to her. So they needed his confession and cooperation. Which is why this is so crazy. Because if he had never sent that text message saying, hey, this is Travis, the Guy in the white creep van or the creepy white van. Yeah, he probably never would have gotten caught.

[A]

That is so. That is so insane to me. Because. Yeah, he really, you know, put the nail in his own coffin.

[B]

Really.

[A]

Because he didn't have to send that text message, which, by the way, I think he was trying to come off, like, oh, like, if I make this, like, weird joke about my creepy van, then maybe I'll seem normal. That didn't work. Like, you made yourself look like a fucking weirdo, you dork.

[B]

Because he can't think like a normal person. You know, he's deranged. And so. But it's really interesting. Something I wonder too is if maybe he worried that he would have been caught on surveillance. Yeah. And so he's saying he's trying to

[A]

get ahead of it.

[B]

He's trying to get ahead of it. But little did he know, he was not caught on any surveillance. Because even when they had his name, this text message, his interviews, his van, the surveillance videos of him at the bakery with the cooler, the Burn Barrel, they had all this stuff and they still didn't have enough to arrest him. Yeah. For her murder.

[A]

Because it was all. At that point, it was all circumstantial. I mean, all. All of that looks and sounds very suspicious and weird. But they didn't have any physical evidence tying him to the murder.

[B]

So if he had not attacked Lydia Tillman and had just remained under the radar or continued to commit crimes very inconspicuously.

[A]

Yeah. Or elsewhere, you know, different places.

[B]

And if he didn't confess, he wouldn't have. He wouldn't have gone down for it, even with all the things that I just listed. So it's just. It's absolutely insane.

[A]

Well, I truly believe that had Travis Forbes not been caught, he absolutely would have gone on to hurt more women. And I truly believe that his goal was actually to become a serial killer. That's what I believe. Based on the attacks. Because you're already being looked at for the disappearance of Kenya. Now you're committing another crime in which you almost murder a woman.

[B]

A heinous, brutal crime.

[A]

Brutal crime. You're also. Then after that, you're seen in Fort Collins following young women home. And the police know because they're. They're watching you. He absolutely is such a predator, this granola making piece of shit.

[B]

You're right. This is the makings of a serial killer. And then, of course I'm gonna say it. I know you know what I'm gonna say. I wonder if there was anybody Else that police didn't connect him to.

[A]

Yeah. And you know what, I would not be surprised because as we know, even when he was a teenager, he's throwing fucking rocks at women on a hiking

[B]

trail and creeping into their homes and stealing their underwear.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And like you said as a teenager, that was like over a decade earlier. So I actually would be surprised if he didn't kill anybody else.

[A]

Yeah. So on the outside the appearance was that he had cleaned up his act, that he was getting his life together. He's, I've got this granola business now. But you know, that's really not what was going down.

[B]

That's all for outward appearance. Well, in the police cruiser on the way to Kenya, 31 year old Travis directed investigators to, you guessed it, the small farming town of Keensburg, Colorado.

[A]

Yep. Because you know, they had an inkling that that's where he had possibly buried Kenya.

[B]

Why else would he be going out there? It makes so much sense. But they, you know, in this whole entire town, they don't know exactly where he would have put her. So they, they had no way of finding out. Unless they had caught him red handed and followed his van there. But they, they only followed him to Fort Collins. Yeah, and by the way, I think we said the miles earlier, but keensburg is like 40 minutes by car right. From downtown Denver. So during the drive Travis had been pretty chatty. But as they got closer, he got quieter and quieter. As they approached a patch of trees at a field, they stopped the cars and everyone got out. Detective Lombardi, who is the other lead investigator on this case, said that Travis's entire demeanor changed when they got out of the car and that he suddenly let out a blood curdling scream. It was so sudden that it made everybody jump. Travis then pointed at one of the detectives feet and said, you're standing right on top of her. Which the dramatics of that, the blood curdling scream. Like what, what does he think this is a movie? Like what are you doing?

[A]

I think he does think that this is just like the detective said, you know, this is a game to him.

[B]

So true.

[A]

Well, sadly, 19 year old Kenya Monje's body was buried right next to a ravine. So police began digging as an anthropologist aided. And it took a while to dig of course, since they had to do it very carefully. But soon enough, they finally found Kenya's body. The detectives described this as an incredibly difficult thing to do because they've been trying so hard for five months to find her after seeing countless smiling photos of her and, of course, getting to know her family. Yet there she was, buried in this town that they feared she had been buried in all along, in some random field. The detectives called the Lees and told Kenya's mother, father and siblings that Travis had taken them to Kenya. And the first thing that they asked, devastatingly, was, is she alive? Detective Lombardi just didn't have it in him to say no. But he had to. On the drive home, Travis had the nerve to ask Detective Lombardi if he was happy now that he knew where she was. But he said that he wouldn't be until he knew exactly what had happened. So, of course, at this point, with nothing else left to lose, Travis explained what exactly happened that night. Now, he admitted that he killed Kenya, but he said that he didn't mean to kill her. They all fucking say this. And he didn't pull his car over to kill her. You know, that apparently wasn't his motive, or so he says. He said that none of this was premeditated. He claimed that he spotted her when he was out on the street after she had left that apartment building, that the. The CCTV footage caught her on, and that he pulled his car over to offer her a ride. But once she was inside his van, he raped her, strangled her, and stuffed her body in the cooler in the back before driving around with her body in his van for an entire day before deciding to put it in the bakery's freezer while he cleaned out his van with bleach and burned her clothes.

[B]

And that makes that video footage of, you know, him wheeling the cooler on that cart into the freezer while there's employees around him so eerie, so much eerier, because of the fact that we know that in that video, Kenya is inside that cooler. And also the fact, Heath, that he said, oh, well, it wasn't premeditated. And I didn't. I wasn't looking to rape or murder a woman. You still did.

[A]

Who fucking cares?

[B]

The fact that he was crying about, I just wish I could have kept her safe and taken her home was such an act anyway. But you literally could have done that. And you're saying that you picked her up to help her? Then why didn't you just help her? Why didn't you just take her home? It's because you're a freak.

[A]

Because he's a slime ball.

[B]

You're a monster.

[A]

Is a monster. He's a loser. And, you know, I feel like, you know, he believed that if he pulled this cooler into the freezer while people were, like, around that that would not come off as suspicious. Like, maybe people wouldn't suspect anything.

[B]

Yeah. Because while I'm doing it with people around, I've got nothing to hide.

[A]

Exactly. But when you see it later, it's just. It's so horrifying, really. It is chilling. Just imagine if you were one of the employees that were there that day, and you had no idea that a young woman's body was in that cooler.

[B]

But again, his thought process is not the same as you and I. So him saying, well, I'm just going to do this while there's other people around. He probably also didn't have a choice because this is a bakery where many people are renting out space. And he just has to do what he has to do. He has to get her in the freezer.

[A]

Yeah, he's trying to figure out, you know, he's kind of scrambling at that point, trying to figure out what exactly he was going to do, you know, where he was going to take her, which ultimately was Keensburg.

[B]

But I gotta say, too, it also makes his crime against Lydia feel so frantic. We know that Kenya's murder was a little bit more concealed. It happened in his van. He took her out to a rural area. He got rid of all the evidence. But the fact that he followed Lydia home, where anybody could have watched him, including the police, had they still been following him, attacked her so brutally, and then burned her apartment. You know, this. It wasn't like she lived in this little house and, you know, there's. This is a building.

[A]

Yeah. It seems like this animal got a taste for murder, you know, and he just, like this insatiable lust for murder, and he just couldn't stop. Yeah, because he just kept. I mean, it's like at that point, you know, the smart thing, if you were a murderer, the smart thing would be to, like, lay low, you know, like go under the radar.

[B]

But that's not who he is.

[A]

That's not who. And he's just out there. He's just. He just keeps going.

[B]

He's a predator. The next morning, after killing Kenya, Travis drove out to Keensburg, where he buried her body near a row of cottonwood trees. On September 8, 2011, Travis Forbes was charged with the first degree murder of Kenya Monge. And then he confessed to the attempted murder of Lydia Tillman, which he had not yet done since he pleaded guilty. At his first court appearance three weeks later, on September 26, 2011, he actually avoided trial and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The next day, on September 27, he pleaded guilty to the attempted first degree murder, sexual assault and arson for Lydia Tillman and received an additional 48 years in prison to run consecutively with his life sentence.

[A]

Maybe you can make some granola in prison, you loser.

[B]

I think he's just going to be making that trash wine.

[A]

Yeah. Oh. Oh, what is it called? Pruno.

[B]

Instead of his whiskey, so he can, you know, gallivant around the prison like a.

[A]

Or he's going to start. Or he's gonna start, like, teaching prison yoga classes. He would do the pipeline. The pipeline would go that way for this guy.

[B]

It would. Well, in exchange, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty, but they still made sure that he was labeled the sex offender that he was. They did not want to agree to his terms of not being labeled as a sex offender.

[A]

That's. That's one of the best parts of this case is, like, that's the one thing that he requested. You're not getting it, buddy.

[B]

I wonder if it's because it's like, a thing that sexual predators are kind of dealt with a. Kind of a different way in prison than people commit other crimes.

[A]

Yeah, probably. But also, like, how could you not label this guy a sexual.

[B]

Well, but that's why he wanted. That's why he wanted them to not do that, because he knew that he was one, and maybe it made him look bad. He's like, oh, I gotta force women into sex. I can't get it on my own because I'm.

[A]

Yeah, whatever. Whatever it was. I just love that they denied.

[B]

Well, during his court appearance for Kenya, Lydia, who was up and walking by the time, was able to meet Kenya's family. And, you know, they found her to be, as we all do, amazing and resilient. And they were so grateful that she survived and only wished their daughter had gotten the same chance to. Since Lydia was not yet able to speak, her dad read a statement written by Lydia to Travis, and it said, quote, you caused me no harm. My spirit, my soul, my mind remain untouched. May you find peace in this life.

[A]

This just really goes to show you the type of person that Lydia is. The fact that. The fact that she forgave this monster for nearly killing her. And she, by the way, you know, she's. She's had to recover from all of these injuries. And, you know, they were so. All of the injuries were so extreme, extensive. You know what I mean? Like, broken bones and all sorts of stuff. Like you said, you know, she had trouble speaking. I think she may still. I don't know. If now she still has trouble speaking, but I know in that interview you could hear that she was having trouble speaking. And that was like a few years after her attack. So the fact that she could forgive this guy for doing that, I mean, incredible person.

[B]

In an interview, she later said, quote, I believe Travis Forbes was acting out of fear and hatred. I choose love and peace over fear. And I won.

[A]

Yes, you did.

[B]

Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

[A]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. If you guys are watching on YouTube, we have posted a lot of photos, but if you aren't, you can head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram, oingwestpodcast. We're all also on TikTok as well as Facebook. We're going to show you photos of Lydia Kenya as well as granola boy Travis.

[B]

Yeah. And the surveillance footage that we talked about in this episode, because there's kind of a lot in that interview with Travis will be on there as well. If you didn't watch on YouTube. I honestly cannot believe that he confessed not only to what he did to Kenya, knowing that they didn't have any evidence, but then of course to Lydia Tillman's attack as well, is so wild to me. But it seems like he really just wanted attention, which is why he was gallivanting in the streets with his whiskey bottle and jumping on cars because he just was thirsty for attention.

[A]

Well, I think after they matched that DNA, you know, from Lydia's case, he knew that he was cooked.

[B]

True.

[A]

So it's my. At that point, he was probably going to be locked up for a very, very long time, if not the rest of his life anyway.

[B]

Agreed.

[A]

Because you almost killed a woman.

[B]

He knew he couldn't get away with it. But even for him to have committed the attack on Lydia after he killed Kenya, knowing that the police were watching him, that they were after him, that they had questioned him so many times that he was so worried that he was going to get caught and yet he still went out there and attacked somebody else. It's like, what is that about?

[A]

Truly an evil piece of shit.

[B]

Well, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and we'll see you next time.

[A]

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