Castle Rock Cold Case Revived After Arizona Arrest of Colorado Man

Keith Carl Jones spent nearly three decades as a person of interest in the unsolved disappearance of Stephanie Kay Fladgard before Arizona authorities put him behind bars last week. His arrest in Tombstone on multiple sex-related felony charges has sent Castle Rock detectives more than 800 miles south to Cochise County, where they are taking another hard look at a case that has sat cold since October 1996.

Fladgard, a Castle Rock resident, was last seen that month when she failed to show up for work and was never heard from again, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. After she vanished, investigators found some of her personal belongings dumped in Castle Rock and in Parker. Foul play has been suspected ever since. Investigators say Jones had been stalking Fladgard for several months before she disappeared and may have been with her when she vanished.

The path to Jones's arrest began on Dec. 23, 2025, when the Tombstone Marshal's Office opened an investigation into him. During that probe, authorities discovered Jones had failed to register as a sex offender after relocating from Colorado to Arizona in 2018. A tip that same month alleged Jones had recorded an illicit video, which led to a Cochise County grand jury indictment. Investigators also uncovered what they described as troubling material on electronic devices seized during the inquiry.

Arizona prosecutors charged Jones with surreptitious recording or photography, voyeurism, sexual exploitation of a minor, and failing to register as a sex offender. He was booked into the Cochise County Jail on multiple felony counts in mid-March 2026.

The arrest drew an immediate response from Castle Rock police. Taylor Temby, a spokesperson for the Castle Rock Police Department, confirmed the department had crossed state lines to follow up. "We traveled down to Cochise County following his arrest," Temby said. "Our case remains open."

Jones's history in Colorado was extensive before his 2018 move. Court records show he was involved in at least 13 criminal cases during his time in the state, though the precise nature of those cases was not specified in available records.

None of the charges filed against Jones in Arizona are directly tied to Fladgard's disappearance. He remains a person of interest, not a charged suspect, in the Castle Rock case. The Fladgard investigation has now been open for nearly 30 years without resolution, and whether the new arrest in Tombstone will finally produce answers for her family remains to be seen.