In the small town of Olathe, Colorado, the life of 28-year-old Patience Rian Stewart was abruptly cut short in November 2017. Her body was discovered inside a camper on a residential property, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. The circumstances surrounding her death were initially shrouded in confusion, stemming from the bizarre confession of a troubled young man.
Joseph Anthony Saur, a 19-year-old, walked into the Olathe Police Department on November 6, 2017, visibly distraught and
claiming he had shot his father in self-defense. His story took a strange turn as he asserted that his father had undergone a sex change and was now a transgender woman named Patience Rian Stewart. Police, however, quickly confirmed that Saur's father was alive and well. Saur, who had a history of methamphetamine use, eventually led investigators to the camper where they found Stewart's body. She was found on a bloody mattress, holding a methamphetamine pipe and a lighter.
Saur claimed that a scuffle over a gun had prompted him to shoot Stewart in self-defense, but the evidence at the scene did not support his account of a struggle. Investigators later revealed that Saur and Stewart had been in an intimate relationship. He was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Ultimately, Joseph Saur pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder as a crime of domestic violence. While Stewart's family opposed the plea agreement, it resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for Saur. He had once told police he believed Stewart was his father who had a sex-reassignment surgery to evade investigation for 'bad things,' a claim that was unsubstantiated.
