PUEBLO – A Pueblo County jury has convicted a man of first-degree murder in the 2013 death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend.
Donthe Lucas was found guilty Monday in the death of Leslie Schelling, The Pueblo Chieftain reported. He received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.
The 21-year-old Schelling was last seen on Feb. 4, 2013, after driving to Pueblo from her home in Denver to talk to Lucas about her pregnancy. She is presumed to be dead but her body has not been found.
Camera surveillance footage and cellphone records suggested Lucas was the last person to be seen with Schelling before her disappearance, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Karl Tameler argued that evidence based on cellphone records and a lack of DNA evidence weren’t enough to find Lucas guilty.