A 77-year-old Denver man who earned a living by roasting chiles and piñon nuts had his throat slashed in a robbery and was tossed from the back of his own pickup and left to die on a roadside in Adams County.
On Thursday, Michael David Sell, 48, was arrested and held on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death, according to an arrest affidavit filed by the Denver Police Department. Sell had worked for the victim, performing landscaping jobs around his house, the affidavit said.
The victim has not been identified.
Witnesses called 911 about 6:51 a.m. Saturday to report a man who was bleeding from his head and lying on the side of the road on the 5300 block of North Washington Street. Witnesses told police they had seen a blue Chevrolet pickup traveling north on Washington Street.
Witnesses also said the victim was having trouble breathing but was able to tell them that he had been cut and robbed by a man who worked for him, the affidavit said. The victim later died at Denver Health medical center.
Investigators went to the victim’s home and his granddaughter told them a man named Michael did landscaping at the house. She told them that her grandfather and the victim had left that morning in the family’s blue Chevrolet pickup to go to Home Depot to buy sprinklers, the affidavit said.
Other residents at the home identified Sell and said he had come back to the house between 7 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. and said he had to go back to Ace Hardware to pick up the victim. Sell had left and had not been seen since, the affidavit said.
The granddaughter told police that she and her grandfather roasted chiles and piñon nuts at the Mile-High Flea Market and at booths on Federal Boulevard during chile season.
Denver police investigated the homicide because they believe it happened in Denver, even though the man’s body was discovered in Adams County.
Source : Denver Post
