Man arrested in 17-year-old murder case
Posted: 03.12.2012 at 5:24 PM
Jose Burciaga  / Courtesy: Colorado Springs Police Department
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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado Springs Police officers have arrested a man for a 1994 murder, solving a 17-year-old case.

Officers said they arrested 57-year-old Jose Burciaga Monday for allegedly murdering Sharon Sklavos.

The 38-year-old mentally handicapped woman was reported missing July 22, 1994 from her sister's house in the 4100 block of Kincannon Road. The sisters lived together at the time.

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Nine days later, officers said someone found a body near Lower Gold Camp Road in southwest Colorado Springs. That body turned out to be Sklavos.'

The coroner ruled her death a homicide, and investigators gathered forensic evidence from the body. In the fall of 2011, the evidence was forwarded to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for further DNA analysis, which matched Burciaga.

Burciaga and Sklavos were associates before Sklavos was killed.