The Robert Paul Thiret case is the 1983 Colorado kidnapping in which Thiret, then 21, abducted three-year-old Lori Poland from Sheridan, sexually assaulted her, and threw her into a 15-foot outhouse pit to die. She survived nearly four days underground before birdwatchers found her. Thiret pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years. He walked free after roughly six, with no parole and no restrictions, after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that state law required his unconditional release.
The 1983 Kidnapping and Rescue
On August 22, 1983, at about 12:45 p.m., Thiret lured Poland into his orange Datsun with the promise of candy, sexually assaulted her in the car, then drove into the Colorado foothills and dropped her into a pit outhouse filled with waste and chemicals.1The Independent. Lori Poland Kidnapping Child Sexual Abuse
She was trapped for nearly four days. A couple who stopped at the outhouse while birdwatching heard her crying from below, and a man was lowered on a harness to lift her out. Asked what she was doing down there, she answered, “I live here now.”1The Independent. Lori Poland Kidnapping Child Sexual Abuse She was hospitalized with severe leg infections from the fall and prolonged exposure to waste and chemicals. Doctors feared amputation but avoided it.
Witnesses gave police a partial plate number, and a separate tip led investigators to Thiret’s Denver address, where officers found the matching orange-brown Datsun in the driveway.2vLex. People v. Thiret Poland identified a photograph of Thiret as the “bad guy” who took her. Thiret surrendered on September 7, 1983, and was held on $250,000 bond.3The New York Times. Man Held in Abduction of Girl, 3, in Colorado
The Charges and the Plea Deal
On September 12, 1983, prosecutors in Arapahoe County District Court charged Thiret with attempted first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, child abuse, sexual assault on a child, and a crime of violence.2vLex. People v. Thiret
The case never went to trial. Thiret pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child and attempted first-degree murder in exchange for dismissal of the kidnapping, child abuse, and crime of violence counts. On September 27, 1984, Judge Charles Friedman of the Littleton District Court sentenced him to ten years in prison.4UPI. Child Molester Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
Why Thiret Was Released After Six Years
Colorado’s determinate sentencing system in the early 1980s entitled many prisoners to release well before the end of their full terms. The Department of Corrections initially set Thiret’s mandatory parole date as February 23, 1989. As that date approached, public pressure built. An assistant attorney general then issued an opinion that sex offenders were subject to discretionary, not mandatory, parole, and the Parole Board reversed its earlier decision to release him.5vLex. Thiret v. Kautzky, 792 P.2d 801
Thiret filed a writ of habeas corpus. In Thiret v. Kautzky, 792 P.2d 801 (Colo. 1990), decided May 29, 1990, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed that sex offenders who committed their crimes between July 1, 1979, and July 1, 1985, were subject to discretionary parole. But because authorities had held Thiret past the point the statute allowed, the court ruled the law required his unconditional release rather than release on parole.5vLex. Thiret v. Kautzky, 792 P.2d 801
Governor Roy Romer tried to block the release. The court’s mandate left the state no legal basis to keep him. On December 7, 1990, Thiret walked out of custody with no parole, no probation, and no restrictions. He was 28. Authorities publicly called him “a menace,” and prison psychologists reported his progress in therapy had been “minimal.”6Los Angeles Times. Colorado Kidnapper Released From Prison Lori Poland was ten years old.
What the Ruling Changed in Colorado Law
The reasoning in Thiret v. Kautzky continued to affect Colorado sex offender cases for years. In Martin v. People, 27 P.3d 846 (Colo. 2001), the Colorado Supreme Court extended the discretionary-parole conclusion to sex offenders who committed crimes between 1993 and 1996. That ruling led to the release of nine sex offenders from prison and 84 from parole supervision.7Prison Legal News. Colorado Sex Offenders Freed From Mandatory Parole
The legislature had already moved to close the gap the Thiret case exposed. Colorado’s Lifetime Supervision of Sex Offenders Act of 1998 imposed parole terms of ten years to life for certain felony sex offenses, so an offender sentenced under the newer framework would not face the release scenario Thiret’s case produced.7Prison Legal News. Colorado Sex Offenders Freed From Mandatory Parole
Where Thiret and Lori Poland Are Now
Thiret is a registered sex offender living in San Pedro, California.1The Independent. Lori Poland Kidnapping Child Sexual Abuse
Poland has spoken publicly about being triggered by the smell of waste and by dark enclosed spaces, and about years of survivor’s guilt and feelings of abandonment. She is the CEO of EndCAN, the National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect, and published a 2022 memoir, I Live Here: Learning to Heal Through Embracing Your Own Story, taking its title from the words she spoke to her rescuers at age three.8EndCAN. Lori Poland Memoir9EndCAN. 40 Years After Her Kidnapping, Lori Poland Works to End Child Abuse and Neglect