Clear Creek County – A snowshoer fell 50 yards off the road near Echo Lake on Saturday morning and then, separated from his companion, was caught in an avalanche and died shortly after rescue workers arrived at the scene.
The couple, both 53 and from the Loveland area, had been skiing and snowshoeing up Colorado 5 when the woman looked back and didn’t see her boyfriend, said Lt. Rick Albers of the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office.
He apparently fell down a 45-degree slope off the snow-drifted road. Although the woman had verbal contact with the man, she lost track of him when an avalanche occurred about 2:30 p.m.
But her dog quickly located the man, who had been buried up to his neck. The woman, joined by three other cross-country skiers in the area, reached him and began to dig him out as one also contacted authorities.
The Sheriff’s Office, Alpine Search and Rescue and Flight for Life all responded, but just after their arrival the man died at the scene about 7 p.m.
The couple’s identity hasn’t been released pending notification of family.
DENVER
Fugitive who shot himself in head dies
A sexually violent predator who shot himself in the head three weeks ago while he was a fugitive has died, officials say.
Richard F. Roy, 66, died Friday at Denver Health Medical Center, said Chocha Heyden, Douglas County sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Roy was on parole, living in a halfway house in Castle Rock, when he removed an ankle bracelet monitor and fled on Jan. 10.
Authorities found him in a Littleton cemetery Feb. 6 after he shot himself in the head, Heyden said.
Roy was taken to the Denver hospital on Feb. 23, where he stayed with ongoing medical problems until his death about 2:30 p.m. Friday, she said.
DENVER
Stolen Metro State laptop contains IDs
Metropolitan State College of Denver officials say a laptop stolen from a faculty member’s office in the Psychology Department on Feb. 28 contains names and Social Security numbers of 988 students who took courses during the 1999 fall semester through the 2002 fall semester.
The stolen computer was password-protected and there is no evidence the crime was one of identity theft or that personal data has been retrieved or misused, college officials said.
Denver and Auraria police are investigating the theft, and the college has asked those who think their personal data may be on the stolen computer to go to www.mscd.edu/securityalert/ or call 1-866-737- 6622 for more information.
DENVER
Columbine judge to read depositions
The federal judge who will decide what to do with the voluminous depositions taken from the parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold will read the transcripts before making his final decision.
In a notice to the parties in the case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock said numerous entities and individuals have submitted varying opinions about what should be done.
“To render an informed decision concerning their disposition, it is necessary for me to read the depositions,” Babcock said.
BRIGHTON
2 burned, 1 critically, after oil explosions
A welder was hospitalized in critical condition after he ignited vapor from a 350-gallon waste-oil storage tank Saturday afternoon, and a second man suffered burns to his hands trying to extinguish the flames on his co-worker.
Three separate explosions shook the building housing Independent Rebuild Specialist, an engine-rebuilding firm, at 189 N. Kuner Road, said Kris Krengel of the Greater Brighton Fire Department.
The first ignited the oil fumes, the second a piece of equipment and the third, largest blast happened when the oil drum itself, about half full, exploded.
The worker whose hands were burned was treated and released, Krengel said.
METRO DENVER
Chemical tests yield no duck-death clues
No unusual chemicals were found in the water at the Metro wastewater-treatment plant that would have caused ducks to die or get sick, according to plant officials.
More than 600 ducks died this year at the north Denver facility and at three other wastewater-treatment plants and a residential lake, according to Colorado Division of Wildlife officials.
Rates of dying ducks have gone down as the weather has gotten warmer, wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said.
Metro wastewater officials reported no duck deaths in recent days. The Littleton Englewood Wastewater Treatment facility reported one duck died Friday, Churchill said.
Biologists with the state and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are continuing to investigate why the ducks were dying – focusing on the birds’ feathers.
SALT LAKE CITY
1st edition Book of Mormon sat in barn
A first-edition Book of Mormon that has been sitting in an upstate New York barn will be sold at auction March 22. The book is owned by an antiques dealer who purchased books and put them in the barn before discovering the valuable text.
Swann Auction Galleries in New York City will sell the book, which is expected to go for $70,000 to $90,000, according to publicist Sarah Drabick.
