PALISADE — When Carroll Quarles came to the relatively tiny town
of Palisade from Jackson, Wyo., in 1995, Jacie Taylor had been
raped and murdered six months earlier.  The Colorado Bureau of
Investigation and the Mesa County Sheriff's Office were on the
case. But Quarles, the new police chief, got involved running
down the rumors running through the methamphetamine culture.  He
dug holes to try to find buried copies of a video that tipsters
told him had been made during the murder. He chased down bogus
leads about the murder being a hit for drug debts.  He followed
a hunch that the murderer could be a serial killer. He studied
up on serial killers of women until he could riff on their
traits and habits like a forensic psychologist.  When Robert
Dewey was convicted of Taylor's murder in 1996, Quarles made
sure all the evidence collected by his department remained in
the department's freezer. He suspected someone else was
involved.  In early December, he learned that was true. Quarles
took part in meetings on t