A Colorado man who spent more than three weeks in jail on murder and other charges has been cleared after the El Paso County Coroner's Office uncovered evidence that the girlfriend he was accused of strangling had actually hanged herself.

Miles Kirby, a 29-year-old from the City of Fountain, told investigators on July 27 that he'd found his girlfriend, Joslyn Teetzel, hanging from a beam in their backyard shed.

But they accused him of staging the scene, arrested him and charged him with a half-dozen crimes, including first-degree murder, tampering with human remains and destroying evidence, court records show. 

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"Joslyn’s death was tragic and unnecessary, and the members of the Fountain Police Department are extremely saddened that another family must experience the never-ending pain that comes from losing someone you love," police said in a statement on July 27. "Our detectives will continue to work hard to ensure justice is served and Mr. Kirby is held accountable for his actions. Unfortunately, domestic violence is extremely prevalent and often the pattern of abuse turns deadly."

Kirby eventually posted $100,000 bond on Aug. 18 and was ordered to stay away from the children that he shared with Teetzel. Then on Monday, one week after a forensic pathologist ruled Teetzel's death a suicide by hanging, the case against him was dismissed.

"The initial history, scene investigative findings, available video surveillance footage, and injuries observed on postmortem examination strongly suggested homicide due to strangulation," Dr. Jarod Murdoch wrote in the autopsy. "However, after receipt and subsequent review of additional history and investigative information after the autopsy to include interview recordings indicating how the rope was wrapped around the neck before being subsequently unwrapped and untied by the decedent's significant other, accounting for the severity of injuries observed at autopsy, direct video evidence of the decent going to her shed alone before being found the following morning, and first responder documentation of the condition of the body indicating that death had occurred during the interval after she was observed entering her shed alone and prior to being found by her significant other, it is my final opinion that this was intentional and self-inflicted."

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The cause and manner of her death, he added, were hanging and suicide.

"If the Fountain Police Department just did the minimal amount of investigation before charging someone with first-degree murder, they would have found out that this was a suicide," Kirby's lawyer, Daniel Kay, said at a news briefing broadcast by the Colorado Springs-based KKTV. 

In addition to video evidence the coroner's office recovered that showed Teetzel going to the shed alone hours before her boyfriend went in the following morning, there was other evidence that she was suicidal, Kay said: journals, a prior hospitalization and a prior attempt.

"So there was a wealth of information, if they just would've investigated the case and not rushed to the conclusion that Miles was guilty," he added.

Kay did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Police declined to comment Wednesday but said the case remained an open one.

"This is still an active ongoing investigation," Fountain police spokeswoman Lisa Schneider told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "It would not be appropriate for us to discuss facts of the case so we will not be releasing any further statements at this point."

In an interview Tuesday with FOX 21 News Colorado, Teetzel's family alleged that Kirby abused her and suggested that may have driven her toward suicide. 

"He told her, ‘Go kill yourself, or I will do it for you,'" Teetzel’s 10-year-old daughter told the station.

Beleaguered CNN has a new boss again, marking its third different chief since February 2022. 

Former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson has been appointed to the role of Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday. 

Thompson, who starts Oct. 9, will inherit a newsroom that has seen five leaders in less than two years when counting interim bosses.

"There isn’t a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future," Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said. 

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Zaslav also handpicked the last boss, Chris Licht, who was shown the door after a little more than a year on the job after he failed to turn around the long-troubled news network. Licht was chosen by Zaslav in 2022 to replace Jeff Zucker, who was forced out ahead of a long-planned merger that put CNN under Zaslav’s control. 

CNN executives David Leavy, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling had been serving as interim bosses since Licht’s departure. 

Licht made it clear he wanted to "tamp down spectacle" that was rampant during the Zucker era, reaching out to disaffected Republicans and axing some prominent left-leaning news figures, including Don Lemon and John Harwood.

But liberal staffers who craved the Zucker era never embraced Licht, who came to CNN from CBS’ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." He enraged the network and liberal critics when CNN hosted a rowdy town hall with former President Trump, and Licht later participated in an Atlantic profile that presented an unflattering portrait of his leadership.

He was finally fired in June, and it’s unclear if Thompson plans to revert to the Zucker tone or will usher in a new era.

"I couldn’t be more excited about the chance to join CNN after years of watching it and competing against it with a mixture of admiration and envy," Thompson said. "I see opportunity. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN."

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Thompson, who is British, ran The New York Times from 2012 to 2020. Prior to that, he was CEO and editor-in-chief of the BCC from 2004-2012. In 2005, news circulated that Thompson apologized for biting a colleague in 1988. The BBC downplayed the incident. 

Thompson is now tasked with leading CNN’s strategy, operations and business units that employ roughly 4,000 people. He will act as editor-in-chief, ultimately responsible for all CNN content, the network said.

An insider told Fox News Digital that they'd reserve judgment on the pick, saying some others had expressed optimism while others "just shrug" since he'd be operating under the same management as Licht.

CNN has been plagued by ratings issues in recent years, regularly failing to compete with the viewership totals of other cable news channels, particularly during primetime. CNN has averaged 583,000 primetime viewers in 2023, compared to 1.9 million for Fox News and 1.2 million for MSNBC. 

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Among total day viewers, CNN has settled for an average audience of 473,000 in 2023 compared to 1.2 million for Fox News and 769,000 for MSNBC. 

In August, CNN averaged only 147,000 primetime viewers among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, finishing behind basic cable offerings including Investigation Discovery, Comedy Central, Bravo, Food Network and HGTV. 

Leavy, Entelis, Moseley and Sherling will continue in their roles, reporting to Thompson.

Fox News’ Kristine Parks and David Rutz contributed to this report. 

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