On a November day in 2010, the quiet of a Colorado shooting range was shattered by a tragedy that would soon capture international attention. Twenty-nine-year-old Kristin Hermeler, a woman from Australia, died in what authorities would later describe as a suicide pact with her identical twin sister, Candice. The sisters, who were Caucasian, had traveled to Colorado, a destination that held a dark significance for them. At the Family Shooting Center in Cherry Creek State Park, they rented two. 22-caliber handguns and, after spending some time on the range, turned the weapons on themselves.
Kristin died at the scene from a single gunshot wound to the head. Her sister, Candice, sustained a similar, life-threatening injury but miraculously survived. In the initial confusion, with no identification immediately available, the striking resemblance of the twins made it difficult for authorities to distinguish between the deceased and the critically wounded survivor. The absence of a suicide note left investigators with a perplexing mystery as they tried to understand what led two seemingly ordinary young women to such a desperate act.
As the investigation progressed, a disturbing picture began to emerge. It was discovered that the sisters harbored a deep and unsettling fascination with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Among their belongings, investigators found a copy of a Time magazine cover featuring the two teenage perpetrators of the school shooting. A more direct link was established when letters written by Kristin to a Columbine survivor surfaced. In these letters, penned shortly after the massacre, Kristin expressed a sense of connection to one of the shooters, alluding to shared experiences of being an outcast and bullied. This revelation provided a chilling context for the sisters' presence in Colorado, just a short distance from the site of the infamous tragedy.
With Candice's eventual confirmation to investigators that she and her sister had entered into a suicide pact, the legal aspect of the case drew to a close. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office concluded their investigation, ruling Kristin's death a suicide and Candice's injuries an attempted suicide. No criminal charges were filed, and no arrests were made, as the evidence pointed to a mutually agreed-upon act of desperation. The surviving sister eventually recovered and returned to Australia, leaving behind the haunting story of a shared obsession that culminated in a tragic and untimely death.
