Dale Bruner Released on Bond: Trial, Sentence, and Appeal

Dale Bruner is a former Silverthorne, Colorado photographer convicted in 2012 of murdering his wife, Stephanie Roller-Bruner, and sentenced to 112 years in prison, later reduced to 48 years on appeal. He was released on a $50,000 bond before trial, rejected a 24-year plea offer while maintaining his innocence, and was eventually revealed, through his own trial attorney’s affidavit, to have privately confessed to the killing years earlier.

The Killing of Stephanie Roller-Bruner

Stephanie Roller-Bruner was 41, a mother of three, and a former Summit County planner who had been laid off in October 2010. By that fall her marriage was over in all but name. She had begun an emotional affair with a physical therapist, Ron Holthaus, and filed for divorce. Six weeks before her death, she obtained a restraining order against Dale, citing threats and violence, then rescinded it and allowed him back into the home.¹

On the night of November 22, 2010, Stephanie vanished from the couple’s Silverthorne home. Dale reported her missing at 8:45 the next morning, saying she had walked out after an argument around 10:30 p.m. Four days later, searchers found her body around noon on the day after Thanksgiving, submerged and frozen in the Blue River a few hundred yards from the house. She was nude except for a long-sleeve teal shirt still attached to one arm. Her missing clothing was never found.²

An autopsy found she had died from a combination of blunt force trauma, strangulation, hypothermia, and drowning. Her skull was fractured, a bone in her neck was broken from strangulation, and she had been put in the river while still alive.³

The Case Against Him

Investigators had no footprints, no fingerprints, no weapon, and no identifiable crime scene inside the home. Stephanie’s computer, which she had been using the night she disappeared, was never recovered.² Prosecutors built a circumstantial case around motive, opportunity, and a pattern of violence.

An emotional email Stephanie had been writing to Holthaus was auto-saved on her computer at 11:00 p.m., half an hour after Dale said she had left for a walk. Prosecutors argued the email set off a fatal confrontation.³ Jurors also heard audio from the earlier restraining order hearing, in which Stephanie described Dale putting his hand on her throat and screaming, “I will kill you if you leave.”⁴

The judge allowed prior-acts testimony from an ex-girlfriend, Jodi Eberhart, who said Bruner had pushed her down, put his hands around her neck, and threatened to kill her in the early 1990s. At least one other woman gave a similar account. Stephanie’s friend Jennifer Voxakis testified that Stephanie had told her Dale was violent during her first pregnancy, and that she had personally seen him angrily strike one of the couple’s children six weeks before the murder.⁴

Prosecutors also emphasized Dale’s behavior. He stayed home during the search rather than looking for his wife, made no attempts to contact her after reporting her missing, and canceled a Match.com account while the investigation was underway.³

Released on Bond, and a Rejected Plea

A grand jury indicted Bruner in the summer of 2011. He was arrested on August 3 and released the next day after posting a $50,000 bond. Judge Karen Romeo barred him from alcohol and controlled substances, ordered him to surrender his passport, and required regular in-person check-ins, while leaving open case-by-case travel to California to see his children.⁵

While out on bond, Bruner turned down a plea deal of 24 years. According to a friend, Brad Olivanti, Bruner was “adamant” that he would not “admit to a crime that I did not do.”²

Trial and 112-Year Sentence

The trial began in July 2012 at the Summit County Justice Center in Breckenridge before Judge Mark Thompson and ran about two weeks.⁶ Bruner kept what reporters called a calm, emotionless demeanor and, on the advice of his attorney Robert Bernhardt, waived his right to address the court.⁷

The jury convicted him on all six counts: second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. On September 28, 2012, Judge Thompson imposed 48 years for the murder, 32 years for each assault, and 18 months on each tampering count, with the tampering time running concurrently. The total came to 112 years, and Colorado law required Bruner to serve at least 75 percent, or 84 years, before parole eligibility.⁸

Reduced Sentence on Appeal

The Colorado Court of Appeals later vacated both first-degree assault convictions and the 64 years attached to them, ruling that the assaults were part of the same course of conduct as the murder and could not be punished separately. The reversal left the 48-year murder sentence intact as his total time.⁶

The Confession Revealed in 2020

In October 2019, Bruner filed for post-conviction relief before Judge Thompson, arguing that Bernhardt had provided constitutionally ineffective assistance. Among other claims, he said Bernhardt had failed to keep out the prior domestic violence testimony, abandoned a change-of-venue motion, and failed to object to the jury’s visit to the crime scene.⁶

District Attorney Bruce Brown argued that by attacking his lawyer’s competence, Bruner had waived attorney-client privilege. On May 15, 2020, the District Attorney’s Office filed an affidavit from Bernhardt stating that Bruner had confessed to him during the early stages of the investigation. According to the affidavit, Bruner admitted that he strangled his wife until she was unconscious, drove her to the river and threw her in, and struck her in the head with a rock when she came to. Bernhardt said the confession had shaped his trial strategy, including how he handled the prior violence evidence and the jury’s site visit.⁶

Brown defended the disclosure. “You can’t attack a person who holds privilege and at the same time refuse to allow them to speak in their own defense,” he said.⁹ As of the last available reporting in May 2020, Judge Thompson had not ruled on the petition.

Where He Is Now

Bruner was 50 at his sentencing in 2012 and remains in the Colorado prison system. With the sentence reduced to 48 years and the 75 percent mandatory service requirement, he must serve at least 36 years before becoming eligible for parole. The couple’s three children went to live with Stephanie’s family after his arrest.¹

1
CBS News. Timeline: Investigating the Death of Stephanie Roller-Bruner
2
CBS News. The Blue River Murder: Who Killed Stephanie Roller
3
Summit Daily. Dale Bruner: The Evidence Against
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CBS News. The Blue River Murder: Who Killed Stephanie Roller
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Summit Daily. Silverthorne’s Dale Bruner Released on Bond Following Indictment for Murder
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Summit Daily. Attorney Claims Dale Bruner Confessed to the Murder of His Wife Before Trial
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Summit Daily. Dale Bruner Sentenced to 112 Years in Silverthorne Murder
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Denver Post. Former Silverthorne Photographer Dale Bruner Gets 112 Years in Prison for the Murder of His Wife
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Always Mountain Time. Attorney Claims Dale Bruner Confessed to the Murder of His Wife Before Trial