A Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger who reported being stabbed at Staunton State Park on Tuesday, leading to a massive police response and manhunt, was arrested on suspicion of faking the incident as part of a hoax.

Callum Heskett, 26, radioed for help at around 9:30 a.m. and said he had been attacked and stabbed, and the man who stabbed him fled on foot, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. However, the sheriff’s office confirmed Thursday that the man is accused of stabbing himself.

A flood of local and state law enforcement quickly descended on the park, and sheriff’s officials sent alerts to 8,600 nearby residents and locked down the area.

But inconsistencies started coming up in Heskett’s statements, sheriff’s officials said Thursday.

“That, along with other conflic

See Full Page