Colorado Woman Mistakenly Arrested Due to Insufficient People Search

Published on March 3rd, 2010
Written by Public Record Finder Staff

In yet another case of mistaken identity, Colorado Police officers arrested Christina FourHorn on charges of armed robbery. Despite FourHorn's clean public record and a mountain of additional evidence that suggested they had arrested the wrong individual, FourHorn was kept in prison for five days and was only released after her husband was able to borrow enough money to post bail. A review of the case would later reveal that the woman they were searching for lived in Oklahoma, spelled her named Fourhorn, was 7 years younger and 100 lbs lighter, and had a highly identifiable tattoo on her arm. Surprisingly, FourHorn's case of mistaken identity was not an isolated incident, as the ALCU recently reported there are at least 237 pending cases against the Colorado police department alone. While things such as identity theft, aliases and insufficient people searches can contribute to a mistaken identity, ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein in discussing FourHorn and other cases noted that, "this is not some fluke in a rational system. It's something that happens regularly, predictably, and therefore the city should be doing more to ameliorate the problem".

As advances in finger print technology and cross-state public record databases occur, instances of mistaken identity should logically decrease; whether that actually happens may be a different story. Unfortunately for the average person searching for someone, they do not have nearly the same access as the officers of the law. Therefore when looking for someone, you'll want to use a professional people search that includes state specific searches, relatives, phone numbers, old addresses, email addresses, aliases, and other advanced search features. While some public records searches are free, you may still want to consider a more in-depth search which is likely to cost some money.

Don't make the same mistakes of the Colorado Police Department; if you're searching for someone, use a professional people search with up to date and comprehensive information.