A person tubing on Boulder Creek on Thursday floated into a body below the 17th Street bridge, police said.
Authorities were alerted about noon and paramedics pulled the unidentified man from the river, Boulder police spokeswoman Julie Brooks said.
He was dead at the scene.
There were no obvious signs of injury, and it is unclear how long he had been in the creek.
Authorities are working to determine the cause of death, Brooks said.
The body was fully clothed and wearing a backpack, she said.
BOULDER
CU health researcher drowns in Mexico
A University of Colorado professor known for his research on radiation effects on Rocky Flats workers drowned in Mexico over the weekend.
Epidemiologist Jim Ruttenber, 59 , was an associate professor in the department of preventative medicine and biometrics at CU’s Health Sciences Center and served in the environmental studies program at the Boulder campus. He has been a professor with CU since 1991.
Ruttenber was in Colima, Mexico, for a university exchange program. He died Saturday while swimming.
“It was horrible, horrible news,” said Len Ackland, an associate professor in CU-Boulder’s journalism department who team-taught a class with Ruttenber. “He was really a terrific person and colleague.”
GREELEY
Suspect charged in fatal hit-and-run
A 45-year-old Greeley man accused of causing a car wreck that killed a rural Weld County couple last week and then leaving the scene was charged with three felonies Thursday.
Martin Morado faces two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death. Weld County District Judge Gilbert Gutierrez also refused to lower Morado’s bail, which remains at $500,000.
Morado is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the case July 17.
Morado is accused of running a stop sign on Weld County Road 45 on June 13 and crashing his car into a station wagon carrying Monte and Sandra Davenport, ages 61 and 60. The Davenports died at the scene.
Police said Morado also left his injured wife, San Juana Morado, at the scene. She survived.
FORT COLLINS
Three arrested after 6-month drug probe
Three Fort Collins residents were arrested last week on drug charges after a six-month investigation by the Larimer County Drug Task Force into the trafficking of cocaine, LSD and Ecstasy in the county.
Justin Thomas, 22, was charged with multiple counts of distribution of controlled substances; Angelo Glaviano, 26, was charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; and Kristin Burns, 23, was charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
The task force searched two Fort Collins homes and found illegal drugs valued at more than $43,000, according to a police news release.
Police said they also seized more than $13,000 in cash, a 9mm handgun and a SKS assault rifle.
AURORA
Memorial Day slaying leads to life sentence
An Aurora man was sentenced to life in prison plus 64 years Thursday for his part in the murder of a teen on Memorial Day 2006.
Eddie Berto Rodriguez, 23, is one of three men authorities suspect were involved in the slaying of 17-year-old Jesus Lares, according to a news release from prosecutors.
One is awaiting trial; another is sought by police and believed to be heading to Mexico.
Rodriguez was found guilty of murder, attempted burglary, burglary and assault in April.
The murder was gang-related and believed to be retaliation for an earlier fight, prosecutors said.
LONGMONT
Firearms also seen in home with explosives
A man accused of keeping explosive chemicals in his home also had at least seven handguns, ammunition and magazines from an animal-rights organization that the FBI considers to be a terrorist group, police said.
Ronald Swerlein, 50, was arrested last weekend on suspicion of possessing and making explosives. He told police he was developing fuel for model rockets.
Police Sgt. Tim Lewis said investigators have found no indication Swerlein intended to attack anyone or that he was working with anyone else.
“I have found no targets, no specific intent to harm anyone or anything with his activity,” Lewis told the Longmont Daily Times-Call in Thursday’s editions.
“He wasn’t interacting with anyone else to show them his explosives,” Lewis said. “He was doing them on his own.”
Swerlein was arrested Sunday after the initial police search of his home. A second search Tuesday turned up four magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, Lewis said.
COLORADO SPRINGS
At-risk grizzly finds home in Colorado zoo
A grizzly bear, captured after bluff-charging a man and killing a goat near Eureka, Mont., is headed to a Colorado zoo.
The 2-year-old, 300-pound bruin arrived at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks shelter in Helena in August and faced euthanization if center manger Patti Sowka couldn’t find a zoo with an opening for a grizzly.
“The decision was made to euthanize him or place him into captivity,” Sowka said. “It took me until December to find him a home.”
She was able to place the bear with the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, where a new Rocky Mountain wildlife exhibit is under construction. The new enclosure, dubbed Rocky Mountain Wild, will connect zoo visitors with the wild heritage of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.
