Police Investigate Whether Suspect In Manhunt Is Linked To Body Found In Motel
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Authorities in Jefferson County and Gipin County are working together to determine if the suspect who triggered a manhunt in Evergreen on Wednesday morning is linked to a body found in a motel south of Black Hawk.
The suspect is believed to have stole two vehicles, one near a murder scene, and remains on the run.
The body was found outside the Coyote Motel. The 67-year-old man had been discovered with a gunshot wound to the head in a snowbank in the parking lot.
Gilpin County Sheriff's deputies had responded to the motel on reports of a stolen car when they discovered the body.
"I think that would be unusual anyplace," said Cherokee Blake with the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office. "You just don't come across those situations very often."
But investigators don't have any evidence to prove the stolen vehicle and the shooting death are linked as of yet.
As officers gathered evidence at the Coyote Motel, law enforcement in neighboring Jefferson County spotted the stolen vehicle and initiated a search. They set up a perimeter and a CodeRed was sent out to hundreds of residents in the area of Swede Gulch and Interstate 70 near the Walmart.
People living in the area were urged to stay inside their homes and avoid the area.
The silver car stolen out of Gilpin County was located at 9:11 a.m. near Silver Rock Lane and Swede Gulch.
Authorities lifted the CodeRed on Wednesday afternoon once they realized that a second vehicle had been stolen and the suspect was no longer in the area.
The brown Dodge Ram pickup truck with Colorado license plate COD-084 was stolen from the 28000 block of Meadowlark Drive in Evergreen. There are black tool boxes on the bed of the truck.
The suspect is described as an Hispanic male in his mid-20s with a shaved head and was last seen wearing a blue jacket with a gray hoodie under the jacket. Please call 911 if you see him and do not confront him.
