Fruita Film Student Works Cold Case Project in Grand Junction
Fruita native Kierra Hall hopes to make a big splash at the 2020 Colorado Short Circuit Film Festival with a closer look at an area cold case that dates back to 1995. Hall's project will be partially filmed in nearby Kodel's Canyon.
Having just been out exploring on the Western end of the Colorado National Monument a couple of weeks ago, I remembered seeing trail markers for this section and started to read into a little bit of the background what was to be the subject of Hall's film after I had read about it.
It's a project that Kierra is working on for her senior thesis at a fine arts college in Savannah, Georgia. Erin Crooks with KKCO shared the story of Hall's return to the Grand Junction area with a film crew to capture the story of a 15-year-old girl named Kiplyn Davis. Davis disappeared in 1995 from Spanish Fork, Utah. She left school to go hiking with friends and never returned. While the investigation into the case turned up very little, three of her classmates were convicted sometime later of perjury in the case of Kiplyn's disappearance.
Details of the case had been a part of Hall's childhood as her grandfather was the Mayor of Fruita at the time Kiplyn went missing. Alerts about Davis's case got sent out to neighboring states in an attempt to help spread information and to ask for nearby communities to be on the lookout. The film is part of a 30-week project complete with permits from the National Parks Service for filming in Kodel's Canyon. The location was chosen for it's similarities to the terrain over in Spanish Fork.
If funds can be secured, Hall hopes to be able to move the film over from a short to a feature film. She hopes her efforts in exploring the case can entertain audiences and help bring attention to this seemingly mystery.