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Second suspect in 2022 Old Stage Road homicide sentenced to prison

By Mackenzie Bodell July 31, 2025 | updated 2 days ago

The woman convicted of accessory charges related to the May 2022 murder of her cousin on Old Stage Road was sentenced to five years in state prison on Thursday.

Laina Curtis, 40, turned herself in to law enforcement in October 2022 shortly after her boyfriend at the time, Marquis Dunlap, was charged with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Jermaine Wilson. According to past Gazette coverage, Wilson’s body was discovered by hikers on May 24, 2022, in the 4600 block of Old Stage Road. 

Curtis’ four-day trial in the 4th Judicial District ended in late February with the jury finding her guilty of one count of being an accessory to a crime.

Man charged with murder in Old Stage Road death; hikers found body

Second person arrested in Old Stage Road homicide

Unlike other hearings for Curtis, Wilson’s family members were not present in the courtroom for sentencing, which was delayed a handful of times.

Prosecutors asked Judge Amanda Philipps to hand down the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison and said Wilson’s family would be disappointed with any other sentence. The defense requested only probation, arguing that Curtis has followed all the rules of probation and has grown as a person throughout her legal proceedings.

“I haven’t seen this kind of change in a person, maybe ever,” defense lawyer Thomas Hammond said.

The sentencing range spanned from two to 12 years in prison. Philipps disagreed with both the defense and prosecution, handing down a mid-term sentence instead, followed by three years of parole.

Philipps called Wilson’s murder “senseless,” and would not sentence Curtis to only probation because she couldn’t “discount the fact that a young man lost his life.”

Curtis appeared out of custody on Thursday, but was placed into cuffs moments after her sentencing. Her defense counsel requested that Curtis be allowed to return home, pack up her things and then turn herself in. Philipps denied the request.

Curtis, meanwhile, has vowed to appeal the conviction. 

El Paso County sheriff’s investigators said they worked Wilson’s homicide case for months until DNA evidence and jail call records led law enforcement to Dunlap in October 2022, according to prior Gazette reporting.

“You did it, you were mad as f—, you did it, it happened,” Curtis said to Dunlap in a recorded phone call he took from jail in July 2022, according to his arrest affidavit.

Dunlap faced multiple charges, including second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He was already in custody for an unrelated weapons charge, law enforcement said at the time.

Dunlap’s case went to trial in October, and after seven days, the jury found him guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to 96 years in state prison for second-degree murder and 48 years for tampering with a dead body, court records show. 

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