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Parachute parents waive extradition

Matthew Ogden
Staff Photo |

Matthew Ogden and Phyllis Wyatt will return to Garfield County to face charges in their infant daughter’s death.

The Parachute couple Monday chose not to resist extradition from Cass County, Minnesota, paving the way for their transport to Colorado.

The couple’s 4-week-old daughter, Sara Ogden, died on June 20 after suffering what an autopsy determined to be two potentially fatal injuries: bruising to her liver and a blunt force impact to the forehead that fractured her skull and caused hemorrhaging in her brain. Sarah’s twin brother was taken into protective custody.



The pair fled before warrants were issued, but were picked up in north-central Minnesota on June 30 on charges of fugitive of justice from another state, a felony.

Ogden, 29, faces potential charges of first-degree murder of a child by a person in a position of trust, a first-degree felony; child abuse causing death, a second-degree felony; and two counts child abuse causing serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony. Wyatt, 41, faces charges of criminally negligent child abuse causing death, a third-degree felony.



Sergeant Jeff Hoffmeister, who oversees extraditions for the county, estimated that it could be a week or two before the pair are housed at the Garfield County Jail.

“In the old days, you could just show a badge, jump on a plane and go,” he said. “That’s not how it works anymore. There’s a lot of paperwork and coordination. The sooner the better, of course, but we also want to make sure we’re safe and fiscally responsible.”


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