A former Creve Coeur Police Department officer who killed her roommate in March initially told investigators the man shot himself with her firearm, then later claimed she was fearful of being attacked.
Caitlynn Girkin, 27, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the death of Adolfo Cazares, 29, in the early morning hours of March 10.
She made a brief initial court appearance Thursday by video from the Tazewell County jail. A pretrial detention hearing has been delayed until next Thursday.
Girkin told the court she intends to hire her own attorney instead of using the public defender. She could face as much as 85 years in prison.
Tazewell County prosecutors said Girkin was off-duty when she shot Cazares shortly after 2 a.m. in their shared residence in the 500 block of Roosevelt Street. Officers responded to a 911 call from Girkin reporting that Cazares shot himself.
Officers found him unresponsive, bleeding and partially undressed in the hallway outside Girkin’s bedroom. He died at the scene from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Since Girkin was a Creve Coeur officer at the time, the Illinois State Police were requested to investigate the incident. A statement from Creve Coeur Police Chief Justin Egan posted Wednesday on the department’s Facebook page identified Girkin as a former officer.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed by the Tazewell County State’s Attorney’s Office, Girkin originally told investigators she was lying on her bed when Cazares came into her room with her gun and pointed it at her.
Girkin said she thought Cazares was going to shoot himself, so she reached for the gun and it went off in the course of a struggle. At first she claimed his sweatpants fell down as he fell to the floor, then changed her account and said he was pulling his pants down while pointing the gun at her.
When investigators interviewed her a second time more than a month later, Girkin admitted the gun was on her night stand when Cazares entered the room. Girkin said that she picked up the firearm as he pulled down his pants and tried to touch her leg. She shot him as he moved toward her.
Girkin told the investigators she was afraid Cazares was going to assault her, although in her initial interview on the day of the incident she said the two had previously engaged in consensual sex and that he had not made any advances toward her before the shooting.
Investigators also learned that Girkin had sent Snapchat messages to Cazares shortly before the shooting that showed her pointing her gun at her own head and holding it in her mouth.
