The murder of John Jacoby changed the town of Windsor, Colorado, forever, and left a lasting impression on Jason Pohl, the reporter covering the case for the Fort Collins Coloradoan at the time.

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John Jacoby was shot and killed in Windsor on May 18, 2015. He worked as a part-time caretaker for the parks and recreation department and was a bagger at King Soopers grocery. Jacoby was riding his bicycle Weld County Road 15 when he was shot.

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Pohl now works as an investigator reporter for justice and government accountability at the Sacramento Bee. At the time of Jacoby's death, he saw how the community reacted. He investigated some of the events that led up to Jacoby's death and covered Jacoby's funeral. Pohl mentioned how impactful Jacoby's case was and how it changed his views on reporting. 

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He goes back to the night when he found out about Jacoby’s murder. "The way we found out about it was in the newsroom,” said Pohl. “ Our emergency scanner did not pick up on what was going on that day, and we got a news release of a homicide."

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Pohl reached out to some of his sources at the Windsor Fire Department for information. They only told him it would be an important case.

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According to Pohl, the Windsor community loved Jacoby. "For years he rode his bicycle hauling a yard work trailer, and he would volunteer at a fire department,” Pohl said. Law enforcement officials from the FBI, Weld, and Larimer counties were brought into the case because several other unsolved shooting occurred within a few months in various jurisdictions along Interstate 25. A task force formed to coordinate efforts between agencies. Also, the Windsor Police Department only employed 20 officers at the time and didn't have enough officers to dedicate to the investigation.

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Now, the Northern Colorado Shooting Task Force handles all leads and the investigation into the Jacoby case as well as several other shooting cases.

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Police did not release much to the public about the case. Pohl said he did not know exactly know how Jacoby died until he discovered something in a coroner's report he had been shot.

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Jacoby's case was quite challenging for Pohl. "The frustrating thing about it is there are often high profile cases that pop up, and you get resolution,” said Pohl. “The resolution never came. As a reporter, that is frustrating."

According to Pohl, it was very challenging for the community, the police, and himself that Jacoby's case remained unsolved. 

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Pohl said he wants reporters to remember, "You need to understand that people giving us the information are human beings, I think if you are interviewing a family member or community member is (to remember) that they are people." 

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