LAS VEGAS (BRAIN) — The Sheriff's Office in El Paso County, Colorado, has begun a homicide investigation after a longtime mountain bike trail advocate and retail mechanic was found dead Sunday.
Timothy Watkins, 60, a mechanic at Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, had been missing since Sept. 14, when he went for a solo mountain bike ride near Limbaugh Canyon in Monument, Colorado.
A search team found his bike and a shoe Saturday evening. Watkins' body was found nearby Sunday morning. According to a Sheriff's Office press release, Watkins had been shot; the office launched the homicide investigation Monday.
Watkins had been working at Old Town for just a month and a half, but was well known in the bike community for decades. He helped build and maintain miles of trails near Monument, said Brian Mullin, a friend and publisher of TheMTBLab, a mountain bike website. Mullin helped search for Watkins last weekend and is attending Interbike in Las Vegas this week. He said he knew Watkins for about 30 years.
"Everybody knew and loved him, he was just such a sweetheart," Mullin told BRAIN. He said Watkins was married and had two children and a grandchild.
Watkins' friends held a bike ride in his honor on Monday at Red Rocks Canyon near Manitou Springs.
Mullin said riders are being urged to not ride alone in the area where Watkins was found.
