Michael Adam Freese, 48, died after being shot in a motel room in Craig, Colorado, on October 4, 2017. Freese and his wife, Rachel Ann Niemeyer, 40, had been living in a motel while seeking work and were celebrating new job offers when they began handling a .22-caliber rifle they reportedly believed was unloaded. The rifle discharged and a bullet entered Freese’s right ear and lodged in his spine. He was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, where he died the next day.

Niemeyer was arrested and initially charged with first-degree domestic violence; after Freese’s death the charges were upgraded. Prosecutors argued she shot him in a drunken rage; the defense said Freese shot himself. A jury convicted Niemeyer of second-degree murder in May 2018 and she was sentenced to 18 years. In September 2024 the Colorado Supreme Court reversed that conviction, finding her post-incident statements were obtained without a Miranda warning and describing those statements as central to the prosecution’s case, and ordered a new trial.

Anyone who knew Michael Freese, Rachel Niemeyer, or who was in Craig around October 4, 2017 with information about the shooting is asked to come forward.