Denver police, who once investigated whether serial rapist Brent Brents beat and stabbed a woman while on a rampage in Capitol Hill in early 2005, have now named another suspect in her murder.
Police on Wednesday identified convict John Lee Carson, 31, as a suspect in the death of Brenda Denton, 38, whose body was found in her apartment in the 900 block of Lafayette Street on March 8, 2005.
Police did not explain how they linked Carson, a friend of Denton’s, to the murder.
Carson is currently serving time at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex following convictions in two unrelated cases, one a hammer attack and the other a stabbing, court and corrections records indicate.
Carson, who is mentally ill, was off his medications and using street drugs during both assaults, according to a letter in his court file.
Carson was free on $50,000 bond when Denton was killed.
“This is an example of how the quest for justice can take time, but it doesn’t deter the spirit of the detectives who have made commitment to the victim,” Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Wednesday.
Denton’s friend Spencer Krzyzek said Wednesday that shortly after the murder, police asked him if Denton knew Brents and if he thought the serial rapist had killed her.
Denver police never named Brents as a suspect in the murder, but detectives sought an interview with him in jail on the day Denton’s body was found, a source had said. Although Denton’s body was found after Brents was arrested, she stopped going to a volunteer job while Brents was on his rape spree.
Denton was a student at Metropolitan State College of Denver, majoring in psychology and minoring in criminal justice when she was killed.
According to a Jan. 10 motion by his attorney, Carson has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals since 1996. He “suffers from schizoaffective, bipolar and manic-depressive disorders,” the motion said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
