LONGMONT, Colo. — A federal corrections officer who was romantically involved with the woman accused of killing a Longmont postal worker warned the victim prior to the shooting that he might be in danger but did not contact authorities, according to an affidavit for his arrest.
Andrew James (AJ) Ritchie was arrested Tuesday and is being held on a charge of complicity to commit first-degree murder. The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Englewood confirmed that Ritchie has been employed as correctional officer there since 2016.
The victim, 33-year-old Jason Schaefer, was shot on Oct. 13 as he delivered mail in Longmont. His ex-girlfriend, Devan Schreiner, 26, is accused of shooting him in the face as he delivered mail around 12:30 p.m. on that day. She was formally charged with first-degree murder charges.
On the morning of the shooting, the affidavit says Ritchie's phone appeared to be traveling the same route as Schaefer as he completed his mail route.
During a police interview, Ritchie admitted he was in Longmont that morning and that when he dropped Schreiner off at work, she stated "today is the day" and "I have everything I need," the affidavit for his arrest says.
In that same interview, the affidavit says, Schreiner had previously talked about killing Schaefer "multiple times," but Ritchie reported he had been able to "talk her down." On the morning of the shooting, he said he spoke with Schreiner a couple of times trying to convince her not to go through with it, the affidavit says.
At one point, he reported that she "abruptly" told him she would not do it, but he believed she still had the idea in her head to harm Schaefer, the affidavit says.
He reported that was he was following along with Schaefer's route that morning to potentially confront Schreiner if she showed up.
Ritchie said he then drove by the victim and had a 15-second conversation with him in which he said he told Schaefer something to the effect of "you are pushing Devan [Schreiner] over the line" and you "need to watch out for her," the affidavit says.
He said, according to the document, that Schaefer replied, "I'm not afraid of that [expletive]."
Ritchie said that at that point, he felt he had "done his job" and went home, the affidavit says.
When asked why he did not contact police that morning, he said "he did not know if she was serious," the affidavit says.
He also said she had made similar threats in the past but that his time, in the days before the shooting, she had sent him a photo of herself in clothing similar to what the suspect in the shooting was wearing.
Ritchie initially denied being in a relationship, but voicemails and messages between the two seemed to indicate otherwise and he eventually admitted that he lied to cover up their affair, according to the affidavit.
Schaefer and Schreiner have a child together, and two days before the shooting, an affidavit says Schaefer filed court documents seeking to have his parenting time modified. Schreiner was supposed to be served with papers regarding that, but it was initially unclear if she had been served, but the affidavit for Ritchie's arrest says she did receive them on Oct. 11.
In an interview, Schaefer's supervisor indicated that he planned to file for "more custody," according to the affidavit and that he had concerns about their child coming home with bruises and marks. The supervisor also said that Schaefer reported that Schreiner wasn't paying her share of care costs.
An investigator learned through an interview that Schaefer had received threats from Schreiner and that Schaefer had messages and court paperwork at his home about those threats, the affidavit for Shreiner's arrest says.
The document in support of Ritchie's arrest notes that Shreiner said "AJ would shoot him [Jason]."
The document in support of Schreiner's arrest says she had been fired from her work at the Longmont branch of the postal service about two weeks ago due to "an incident involving her and Jason."
The new affidavit states that in early October she gained access to the Longmont Post Office building without permission and was seen going through Jason's things. She left the building before anyone confronted her and the access codes were later changed, according to the document.
Schreiner, in turn, had recently started working at the Loveland branch of the postal service.
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