Aurora – A man who crashed a stolen car in Weld County was questioned in connection with a homicide at an Aurora apartment complex that was set ablaze Monday, police said Wednesday.
Andrew C. Draper, 24, was driving a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire on Monday that belonged to 23-year-old Monet Turner, a missing woman who rented the apartment that burned.
Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Doberson said that fingerprints and dental records are being used to confirm the identity of the woman found dead in the apartment and that he is withholding the cause of her death until her family can be notified.
The stolen Sunfire rolled on Interstate 76 in Weld County just hours after the 5:41 p.m. apartment fire at 832 S. Chambers Road in Aurora. Draper was injured in the rollover and airflifted to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, where he was listed in good condition.
Draper was questioned by Aurora police at the hospital.
“He was a person we had a lot of interest in in connection with this fire,” said Aurora police Sgt. Rudy Herrera.
A relative of Turner’s reported her car stolen Saturday, but the car had not been seen since June 13, Herrera said. A missing person’s report for the licensed cosmetologist was filed by one of Turner’s relatives Sunday, a day before the fire in her apartment.
Herrera said police checked Turner’s apartment after the report was filed, but he would not comment on whether the body found inside the apartment during the fire could have been found earlier.
Draper and Turner knew each other, but Herrera declined to say how.
“I am confident we have leads that will lead us to an arrest,” Herrera said.
In 1999, Draper, then 17, was tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily harm, a felony. He spent four years in the state youth offender system.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
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