New details emerge about Colorado seasonal park ranger facing charges for alleged stabbing hoax

A seasonal park ranger accused of creating a stabbing hoax at Colorado's Staunton State Park last month had lasted only nine months in a job as a police officer before the incident.

Callum Heskett, 26, is facing multiple charges in connection with the Aug. 19 incident, including attempting to influence a public servant, tampering with physical evidence, false reporting and reckless endangerment, court records show. He has not been formally charged and additional charges could be forthcoming.

Investigators accuse Heskett of contriving a story that he had been attacked by a man near a trail in the state park. An arrest affidavit indicates Heskett claimed to an investigator that the attacker said, "something to the effect of, 'f**k the police."

Heskett told investigators the man then charged at him and knocked him to the ground with a shoulder tackle, before getting hold of Heskett's pocket knife and stabbing him. Then Heskett claimed the attacker fled into the forest.

Through much of the day, dozens of law enforcement officers searched the area in and around the park, evacuating visitors and keeping local residents from their homes. Investigators say they found inconsistencies in Heskett's story and, in a consented search of Heskett's phone, found searches the morning of the stabbing for "how deep are arteries in lower abdomen" and "abdominal anatomy."

"We went from worried to angry to now just kind of feeling a little disheartened," local resident Patrick Reich said.

As investigators spoke with Heskett, he told them he had previously served as a police officer in Lafayette, Colorado. The affidavit states that while in the hospital, Heskett said, "that he was on a number of medications for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder." The investigator wrote that Heskett told him, "the condition was a result of him being run over while serving as a police officer with the LPD."

However, police video of that incident obtained by CBS News Colorado shows a different story.

Heskett worked for the Lafayette Police Department between October 2023 and July 2024. In June 2024, Heskett and another officer, Nathan Cashion, confronted a man in an investigation of retail theft in a Walmart parking lot. The video is from the body-worn cameras attached to Heskett's and Cashion's uniforms. In that video, Cashion is seen trying to stop an alleged shoplifter from escaping in a car that the man was driving. The video shows Heskett using his right hand and arm to brace against or push away from the car. The video also shows the other officer being hit by the car's door as the driver was backing up.

After the man drives away, Heskett is heard in the body camera video complaining about his arm being hurt.  

"No, the door hit my arm and pulled it really hard," Heskett is heard saying on the video. "Well, I hope I'm OK. My arm," he said.

CBS Colorado also obtained a letter of termination dated nine days after the encounter, written by Lafayette's police chief, stating that Heskett had not demonstrated sufficient proficiency in critical areas needed to be a police officer and had not met the required standards for the field training and evaluation and the city's standards of conduct. There was no reference to any specific incident.

Heskett signed it, but then followed up with an email resigning from the force. The termination was rescinded, but he was off the force.

A Heskett family member said they would have no comment when CBS Colorado sought to ask questions about the current charges and his employment history.

The city of Lafayette declined to say whether the incident at the Walmart was a factor in the termination/resignation, citing personnel matters. The city said it cooperates with other law enforcement agencies if they request information for a pre-employment background investigation by filing a signed release form, but would not answer whether Colorado Parks and Wildlife sought the information on Heskett.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife also would not answer whether it had sought the information during Heskett's hiring, saying it would have no further comment beyond a brief news release that followed the incident at the park. It includes no information about Heskett's hiring.