Chris Halsne joined the FOX31 Problem Solvers investigative team after spending 14 years as lead investigative reporter for KIRO-TV in Seattle. His in-depth reporting on controversial topics have earned him a National Edward R. Murrow award for Investigative Reporting, several National Press Club Consumer Journalism awards, and numerous regional Murrow and Emmy honors.
Halsne’s specialties include exposing government corruption, cold case crimes, aviation, using computer data to discover new truths and keeping politicians and powerful community leaders honest.
In addition, The Humane Society of the United States has recognized his exposes’ into animal abuse with its highest honor – the national Genesis Award.
Halsne believes strongly in the Society of Professional Journalists principal: Give voice to the voiceless.
After receiving his journalism degree from the University of Kansas, Halsne worked for television stations in Missouri, Florida, Michigan and Oklahoma.
Halsne is a documentary filmmaker, an author and a guy who loves sports and the outdoors.
His wife of 27 years grew up in Colorado and has always considered this area her home. They have two grown daughters: The oldest is a Certified Prosthetist-Orthotist pursuing a PhD. The other is an officer in the United States Army.
DENVER — As the FOX31 Problem Solvers reported on Tuesday, “clocking” or the rolling back of vehicle odometers for fraudulent purposes, is a big problem in Colorado and nationwide. For our undercover report, FOX31 stripped the instrument cluster out of one of our old, now-junked news vehicles with the purpose of seeing if a local auto repair facility would take miles off the odometer. (By the way – don’t do this. There are so many ways you could get in […]
LITTLETON, Colo. — The U.S. Justice Department calls it “clocking”: intentionally rolling back an odometer to make a vehicle appear less used. Odometer rollback is “the single most common fraudulent issue in Colorado and nationwide.” That’s a bold statement made by one of this state’s top auto enforcement regulators. So, based on a tip from one of our viewers, the FOX31 Problem Solvers decided to take a closer look at a business which advertises “odometer correction.” Odo-Pro is a licensed business […]
GOLDEN, Colo. — A Jefferson County jury convicted a man of repeatedly abusing at-risk youth he was hired to protect. William Wayne Sexton, 55, was convicted on all counts following a four-day trial. The jury deliberated for fewer than 2 1/2 hours. The most serious charges, unanimously agreed upon by the jury, were three counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust – pattern of sexual abuse. Those charges could put Sexton in prison […]
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Nine days ago, someone added chilling notations to the Wikipedia page of the STEM School Highlands Ranch which was the site of a multiple victim school shooting on Tuesday. Two comments were placed on the school’s page next to a 2018 article labeled “Anti suicide programs are implemented to help lower chances of suicide and school shootings.” At 5:48 on April 29, someone added the words: “Do they work? We shall see” in the […]
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. —Lawsuit claims some Instant Pots can be opened while still pressurized. FOX31 tested that claim and found it to be true. TRAGEDY IN THE KITCHEN Matt and Mary Cooper’s family kitchen has always been a gathering place, buzzing with activity. It’s not hard to figure out why. The Highlands Ranch couple is raising six children — ranging from ages 3 to 14 — with one more due any day now. Mary had seen ads which touted the […]
ELBERT COUNTY, Colo. — A missing person’s case that began in January near Conifer is now a murder investigation; a body has been found and a suspect is in custody. The remains of 28-year-old Joseph Brinson were found Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. in the 42000 Block of Ridge Road near Deer Trail, 70 miles east of where he was last seen. Friends say they knew something was wrong the minute Brinson disappeared. “It was terrible,” says Quincy Lyon. “It wasn’t […]
LONGMONT, Colo. — A Longmont-area pastor appeared in civil court on a restraining order this week; accused of sexually assaulting, harassing, and stalking a much younger, former member of his church. On Tuesday, FOX31 was in the Boulder County courtroom when a judge approved the continuation and expansion of a restraining order against 51-year-old church leader, Nestor Villalobos. State public records show he leads a church called Iglesia de Jesuscristo Palabra Miel on 9th Avenue in Longmont. The church’s YouTube […]
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The Colorado State Board of Nursing has revoked the license of a drug-pilfering nurse’s aide whom was the focus of a FOX31 Problem Solvers investigation late last year. Since then, former Lakewood resident, 39-year-old Euphama Jane Martinek, has also been arrested, charged with two crimes and then pleaded guilty to one of those. Court records show the Jefferson County prosecutor hit Martinek with a felony charge of theft from an at-risk person, less than $500, plus a misdemeanor […]
DENVER — Reports of violent threats toward Colorado schools are on the rise. A FOX31 Problem Solvers analysis of Safe2Tell Colorado’s “planned school attack” reports shows that between the last two school years, the number of tips connected to such a crime have risen at least 135 percent. Overall, during the 2017-18 school year, students reported concerning behaviors 16,000 thousand times — up from just over 9,000 tips the prior year. Suicide threats, drugs and bullying are the top concerns forwarded […]
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. — A former Idaho nurse has pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence in the disappearance of Kelsey Berreth and has agreed to testify against the man charged with killing her. Krystal Jean Lee Kenney entered the plea Friday to the charge related to the death of Berreth, a mother who was last seen on Thanksgiving. The tampering charge is a class 6 felony. Prosecutors in December charged Berreth’s fiance, Patrick Frazee, with murder and solicitation of murder […]
GOLDEN, Colo. — Jenell Mejia dreads opening her own mail. For the past six months, she’s been inundated by unpleasant surprises: overdue bills, court summonses, threats to suspend her driver license and letters from various government agencies, including criminal prosecutors. Her name is on the documents, but the rest of the contents are entirely unfamiliar. Mejia is a victim of identity theft and fraud, one of the most common crimes in Colorado. In fact, she’s the perfect victim: she has good […]
DENVER — New footage of the shootout between Denver police and a suspect was released to FOX31 on Monday. The video, sent to us by a viewer, shows officers surrounding the home where the suspect was holed up with a gun. FOX31 has taken precautions not to show graphic scenes from the footage but discretion is advised. The suspect died at the hospital on Monday, the Denver Police Department said. The two officers that sustained gunshot injuries are still in […]
