By Seth Boyes,
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Trial rescheduled for March
A former Decorah man accused of killing a teen in 2017 has withdrawn his demand for a speedy trial, and his defense attorneys are now hoping to access documentation regarding a reported sighting of the victim in 2021.
James David Bachmurski is accused of killing 15-year-old Jade Colvin, whom investigators believe was at Bachmurski’s rural home south of Decorah in March 2017. The 65-year-old was charged with second-degree murder earlier this year and in September invoked his right to a trial within 90 days. Bachmurski was most recently scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 4 of this year, but he waived his right to a speedy trial on Nov. 12. His attorneys filed a motion less than a week later, referencing information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children related to a report of Colvin possibly being sighted in Harvey, Illinois — about 240 miles from Decorah — on Aug. 12, 2021. Colvin would have been 19-years-old at that time.
The defense has asked the court to grant a subpoena for what they called the lead report and any video or audio footage which may have been collected. The court filed a response on Nov. 21, allowing two weeks for any parties who might be affected by the subpoena to object — Bachmurski’s attorneys told the court they don’t believe the request would include any private information which might be protected by law.
Bachmurski was residing in Swainsboro, Georgia, at least five months before Colvin was allegedly seen in Illinois. Court documents filed in that state show he was accused of forcing himself upon a woman, cutting her clothing off with a box cutter and physically assaulting her on Feb. 3 of 2021. That case was dismissed by a district attorney after the victim failed to appear for a grand jury. Bachmurski was extradited to Winneshiek County from Georgia earlier this year on unrelated charges.
Bachmurski is currently being held in the Winneshiek County Jail, where he has been since June of this year. The murder case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial March 19, 2025, according to court documents filed last week.
Teenage runaway traveled to Decorah
Colvin was reported missing to the Des Moines Police Department on June 10, 2016, and she was last known to have contacted her family on March 23, 2017, according to information from the U.S. Justice Department’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
The U.S. Marshal Service contacted the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office in May of 2022, saying Colvin was believed to have come to Winneshiek County prior to her disappearance — Colvin’s case was one of more than two dozen taken up by the USMS in December of 2020, as part of an effort called Operation Homecoming.
By May of 2022, marshals had identified a number of individuals to interview regarding the teen’s disappearance. The investigation was turned over the the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office following the interviews, and the sheriff’s office then launched a local investigation with the aid of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Winneshiek County Attorney’s Office.
Information released by the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year said Colvin’s mother brought the teen to Iowa from Arizona to live with Bachmurski at his rural Decorah residence in the early spring of 2017. A criminal complaint filed against Bachmurski earlier this year claimed he had “encouraged and participated in a one-on-one relationship with Jade Colvin via electronic messaging” without the mother’s knowledge for approximately a month before Colvin arrived in Decorah, and Bachmurski allegedly “used some of his own money to facilitate Jade Colvin being brought to his residence in March of 2017.”
The teenager had planned to contact her friends after arriving in Iowa, and Bachmurski claims he allowed Colvin to use his phone while her’s was having reception issues.
“The messages sent by Jade Colvin from the defendant’s cell phone during the early morning hours of March 30, 2017, were the last messages ever known to be received by any person,” a criminal complaint said.
The complaint said Bachmurski’s son saw Colvin’s suitcase and other property at the farmhouse months after Colvin was last seen, and the complaint went on to say Bachmurski himself “lied and told others that Jade Colvin had gone somewhere after her last text, while the investigation showed she was no longer alive.”
Bachmurski had considered contacting law enforcement while Colvin was at his home, according to the complaint, but he felt “if he had alerted law enforcement that he had a runaway girl at his house, it would not have turned out good for him.”
Bachmurski skipped court after violating probation
Bachmurski had pleaded guilty years earlier to charges of harassment and willful injury of his own family members — court documents in that case claimed the then 54-year-old used ratchet straps to tie his son to a metal folding chair “and shocked him multiple times on the arm with an electric fence charger.” The filings went on to say Bachmurski also “repeatedly threatened to shoot his sons,” saying they were “not worth the price of the bullet it would take to kill them,” and that “he could shoot them and bury them in the backyard and no one would know.”
A deferred judgement was entered in that case, and Bachmurski was placed on probation and was prohibited from possessing firearms, but a sheriff’s deputy discovered a loaded .223 caliber Stevens rifle in a closet during a welfare/probation check on Jan. 5, 2018, at Bachmurski’s home. He was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon three days later. Bachmurski’s attorney in that case told the court in early 2019 that he had lost contact with his client, adding Bachmurski had sold his house and was not responding to phone calls or text messages.
“It is possible that the defendant has moved out of state, and his intentions to return are unknown,” the defense wrote at that time.
Bachmurski failed to appear in court the following month, and a nationwide warrant was issued for his arrest that same day.
Authorities investigating Colvin’s disappearance were able to interview Bachmurski at some point in 2023, according to Iowa court records, and they asked Bachmurski if he recognized a picture of the Colvin.
“I do,” Bachmurski was quoted as saying. “I’m not gonna lie. I do. As a matter of fact, I’ll guarantee you I’m getting myself in a lot of trouble. I want to tell the truth.”
Authorities served Bachmurski a warrant on June 20, 2024, for his possession of the Stevens rifle. The 65-year-old was transported from the Emanuel County Jail in Georgia to the Winneshiek County Jail and was later served a warrant in the murder case on Aug. 12 — more than seven years after Jade Colvin disappeared.
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