Oct. 26 at 3:57 p.m. Joanne Rinebarger posted a message on her Facebook account; it was the last message she would ever post.

John Caudle, her 14-year-old son, was due home from school at 4 p.m. According to records in newly released court files, an argument over household chores broke out. Caudle allegedly went to his room, took two pistols he had previously hidden there, and shot his mother, killing her.

According to an account by law enforcement officer Kirby Lewis, taken from information Caudle gave to the Park County Sheriff's Office, Caudle hid in the laundry room when he heard his stepfather coming into the house. According to Lewis' account, Tracy Rinebarger was standing in the kitchen when Caudle walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head.

The next morning Caudle took his stepfather's 2008 Chevrolet Silverado and went to school. At some point on Oct. 27 Caudle left the area, reportedly heading for Dacono, Colo.

At about 2:10 p.m. on Oct. 27, Rio Grande County Sheriff's Office received a call from a relative of the Rinebargers', saying there were two bodies with multiple gunshot wounds on the floor of the master bedroom of a house at 3219 County Rd. 28 outside of Monte Vista. The relative identified the bodies as Tracy and Joanne Rinebarger.

The Rio Grande Sheriff's Office called in agents of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to assist in the investigation.

After a search warrant was issued, officers found two .22 caliber pistols in an unlocked gun safe in the house. The guns were loaded with .22 caliber hollow point ammunition, and a box of Remington .22 caliber hollow point shells was also in the safe.

Officers had already observed .22 caliber shell casings on the floor and a countertop in the residence.

According to Lewis' report, a large amount of blood had been cleaned up in the living room and kitchen area, and blood-soaked towels and Swiffer pads were recovered from the scene.

Roadblocks were set up, and an all points bulletin was put out for the pick-up truck.

In the meantime, Caudle was stopped by Park County sheriff's officers in Fairplay, CO. They had received a complaint that he was driving recklessly. The officers detained him while they tried to locate his parents.

Vera Miller, Caudle's grandmother, was located and driven to Fairplay to sign a waiver that allowed law enforcement officers to question her grandson.

Notified that Caudle had been apprehended in Fairplay and that he had allegedly confessed to the crime, the Rio Grande Sheriff's Office had him transported back to the county.

Caudle has been in the Pueblo Youth Service Center (PYC), first pending the filing of charges and now waiting until the courts determine where he will be detained while awaiting trial.

Caudle was charged Dec. 22, as an adult, with two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of aggravated motor theft, along with some lesser, sentence extended charges. He faces two consecutive 40-year terms if convicted of the first degree murder charges, according to the District Attorney's office.

The major question now facing the court is what to do with Caudle until he goes to trial.

Now that Caudle has been charged as an adult state statute says that unless the prosecuting attorneys and defending attorneys can come up with a mutually agreeable alternative, he has to be moved to the county jail.

Prosecuting attorneys Dan Edwards and Dan McIntyre have made it clear to defending attorneys that "mutually agreeable" is not part of their vocabulary when it comes to where Caudle will reside until he is tried.

He is charged with a "worst of the worst" crime, that of killing his mother and stepfather, they maintain, and the jail is where he should be.

By state statute, if Caudle is placed in a county jail, he will have to be isolated from all other prisoners.

The Rio Grande County Jail does not have a policy regarding adolescent prisoners, according to Sheriff Brian Norton.

"If they give him to us we will find some place to put him," he said.

Guardian ad Litem Ruth Acheson protested the move to the county jail at the Dec. 22 court session, saying presumption of innocence is a foundation of the American justice system.

"Right now Mr. Caudle is as innocent as anyone else in this courtroom," Acheson said. "He would be held in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment."

Acheson is charged, as court appointed guardian, to make sure Caudle's best interests are taken into account, not only legally but personally. This part of her role came into play when it was discovered that Çaudle had not had a medical exam since he moved to Colorado, nor had he ever been immunized.

Judge Martin Gonzales said it was in Acheson's power as guardian to make sure he was given proper medical attention.

Services available to Caudle at a juvenile center is also an issue. If he is in the county jail he will not be able to keep up with his studies and he can not get mental counseling.

Defense attorneys Hopkins and Walzl have filed a brief outlining why they question the constitutionality of the statute governing the placement of minor children being prosecuted as adults.

"The provision of the Colorado Children's Code that gives the prosecution sole discretion to decide a minor child's place of pretrial confinement if adult charges are filed is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to John (Caudle)," they wrote in the summary of their brief. "The statute violates state and federal due process, cruel and unusual punishment, and equal protection guarantees."

Walzl and Hopkins point out that the United States Supreme Court has classified solitary confinement as "the harshest possible point on the continuum of punishments" to which convicted prisoners can be exposed.

Caudle, they said, is by law presumed innocent, and should be treated as such.

The next court date is today at 1 p.m. in the Del Norte Courthouse. Subjects to be covered include deliberations on motions filed, including motions on where Caudle is to be housed prior to his trial.