UPDATE: Denver's Office of the Medical Examiner on Monday, August 13, identified the three people found dead last week. They include Nicole Boston, 28, Christopher Zamudio, 45, and Jerome Coronado, 39. The cause of death for all three was listed as gunshot wounds. The manner of death was homicide.
Denver Police are investigating the suspicious deaths of three people they believe to be homeless who were found Thursday near a facility at Broadway and Ohio Avenue.
Division Chief of Investigations Joe Montoya said the victims included two men and one woman. Their deaths are being investigated as homicides, he said. The case remains under investigation.
Montoya said they don’t have a suspect. The investigation is prompting police to beef up their presence in the area and contact community partners with the homeless community.
“By all the evidence and appearance, that it would appear that they are homeless,” Montoya said. He added that there aren’t additional threats to the community and said the incident appeared to be isolated.
The bodies were still on scene Thursday afternoon, Montoya said, as police continued processing the scene. A crime laboratory was on-site, as well as a police evidence dog.
Police Chief Paul Pazen was present at the crime scene on Thursday afternoon.
“Our message is that our team takes these serious and we want to make sure that all people in Denver, our most vulnerable community members, that they’re treated with respect and dignity and that the investigation is just as thorough for them as it would be for anybody else in this city,” Pazen said.
Montoya said the bodies were found after police responded to a “nature unknown” dispatch call at about 11 a.m. Thursday near Broadway and Ohio Avenue. The area is located next to an RTD Light Rail station.
“We’re going to be stepping up security measures, not only within the transient community but specifically around this RTD structure, there’s going to be a high level of security and visibility,” Montoya said.
The bodies were found near bushes next to the facility, which a neighboring tenant said is home a dialysis center. The bodies were found by a passerby. Montoya said he doesn’t believe the passerby witnessed the crime. Police did not yet have a cause of death for the three people.
At about 4:36 a.m. on Thursday, Montoya said they responded to a stabbing involving a male victim about 500 feet west of the crime scene near Broadway. Montoya said the man in that incident is in critical condition.
Kyle Cuffe, 20, was arrested in connection with that stabbing. Montoya said police are investigating whether or not that incident is connected to the triple homicide.
Thursday marked the second straight day Montoya had to discuss an ongoing death investigation.
On Wednesday, he provided additional details on the death of Jordan Vong, a 7-year-old boy from Montbello found dead earlier this week. A 16-year-old girl is in custody in connection with his death.
Police are asking the community’s help for more information on Thursday’s incident. Montoya is asking people who may have seen any suspicious activity in the area of Broadway and Ohio Avenue from late Wednesday to 11 a.m. Thursday to call 720-913-STOP.
