How a Colorado park ranger became the prime suspect in his own stabbing

Law enforcement searches for a suspect in the stabbing at Staunton State Park on August 19. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Pine, Colorado —

As massive granite outcroppings dotted with evergreen trees jutted skyward from the landscape of Colorado’s Southern Rockies on a warm Tuesday morning, the serenity of bird calls and a babbling creek was shattered by a radio call from a park ranger in distress.

The transmission pierced the crisp air of the Front Range just after 9:30 a.m.: One of Staunton State Park’s seasonal rangers had been stabbed alongside a popular trailhead.

The ranger, 26-year-old Callum Heskett, was heard over the radio saying things like “get back,” and “he’s fighting me.”

Deputy Thomas Zajac, first on the scene, found Heskett kneeling in the grass near the pa