A man long linked to a decades-old Castle Rock disappearance is now behind bars in Tombstone, Arizona, and that arrest is breathing new life into a Colorado cold case that has frustrated investigators since 1996. Authorities in both states say the new booking, sparked by a December tip, has pushed them to take another hard look at leads that have sat idle for years.
Arrest in Tombstone
Local officers in Tombstone say they detained 60-year-old Keith Carl Jones after a probe late last year and booked him into the Cochise County Jail on multiple felony counts. As reported by The Tombstone News, the Tombstone Marshal’s Office opened an investigation on Dec. 23, 2025, and discovered Jones had failed to register as a sex offender after moving to Arizona from Colorado in 2018.
Charges and evidence reported by state outlets
Arizona and Colorado reporting states that a tip led to a Cochise County grand jury indictment after allegations that Jones recorded an illicit video, and that investigators uncovered troubling material on electronic devices seized during the inquiry. According to CBS News Colorado, prosecutors in Arizona charged him with surreptitious recording or photography, voyeurism, sexual exploitation of a minor and failing to register as a sex offender. Taylor Temby, a spokesperson for the Castle Rock Police Department, told CBS Colorado that after Jones’ arrest, “we traveled down to Cochise County following his arrest. Our case remains open.”
The Castle Rock cold case
Stephanie Kay Fladgard vanished from Castle Rock in October 1996 after she failed to show up for work, and authorities have long treated her disappearance as suspicious. Some of Fladgard’s personal belongings turned up dumped in Castle Rock and nearby Parker in the weeks after she went missing, and investigators say Jones had stalked her in the months leading up to her disappearance.
The missing-persons site The Charley Project maintains an open file on the case and lists Fladgard as a missing person from October 1996, while investigators continue to seek tips.
Criminal history and legal next steps
Colorado court records summarized in recent reporting show Jones was involved in numerous criminal cases in the state throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including guilty pleas and sentences tied to sex-crime allegations. CBS News Colorado reports Jones pleaded guilty in Douglas County in 1997 to one sex crime and served time, later pleaded guilty in Elbert County in 2000 for failing to register as a sex offender, and admitted to violating a protective order in Arapahoe County in 2004.
Officials in Arizona and Colorado say the investigation into both the current charges and any possible links to the 1996 disappearance remains active as prosecutors in Cochise County move forward with the indictment…