A Highlands Ranch couple found dead in their home Monday night were in the midst of getting a divorce.
Kelly Estrada, 36, filed a petition for divorce from Mario Estrada, 34, in Douglas County court in early July, according to records. The case was scheduled for a status conference next week.
Monday night, a family member found the Estradas dead in their home on South Coyote Street in Highlands Ranch. Douglas County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cocha Heyden said investigators are still treating the case as a death investigation.
Officials have declined to speculate whether the deaths were a murder-suicide because the coroner will make the official determination, but Heyden said authorities do not believe the public is in any danger.
Neighbors said the couple had two young children, who were taken away Monday evening by an older couple.
Heyden said the sheriff’s office received a 911 call around 5:53 p.m. Monday that led deputies to the house. She said no one else was inside the home when the bodies were discovered.
Mario Estrada was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in June, according to records, though details of the case were not immediately available.
Additional local news briefs:
WASHINGTON
2 Fort Carson soldiers from Tennessee killed
Two Fort Carson soldiers – both from Tennessee – were killed Sunday in Baghdad, Iraq.
Spec. Justin R. Blackwell, 27, of Paris, Tenn., and Pvt. Jeremy S. Bohannon, 18, of Bon Aqua, Tenn., died of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.
Both soldiers were assigned to the 59th Military Police Company, 759th Military Police Battalion.
DENVER
Boy runs into bus on 16th Street, injures leg
A 12-year-old boy visiting Denver with his parents darted into the side of a moving 16th Street Mall shuttle bus Tuesday night and was taken to a local hospital.
The accident happened at about 7:30 p.m. on the mall between Arapahoe and Curtis streets.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said the boy injured his leg in the mishap.
“We were told at the scene by paramedics that the injuries are not life-threatening,” Reed said.
The parents and the boy are visiting Denver from Illinois for meetings at the Colorado Convention Center, friends of the boy’s family said.
A small group with the family was taking photographs on the mall, and the boy didn’t want to be in the pictures, witnesses said. He ran from a camera and darted into the side of a bus.
Reed said police told RTD officials that “the driver was not at fault.”
The boy was conscious and talking after the accident, witnesses said.
The boy, with his parents, was taken to a local hospital by ambulance to be treated for his injuries.
Police declined to release the name of the boy, or his parents, because he’s a juvenile.
ASPEN
Rocks, mud knock out bridge, bury road
Rocks and mud flowing down a small creek that feeds the Fryingpan River knocked an old bridge from its moorings Monday and buried part of Frying Pan Road.
Mud and rock covered the road at a depth between knee-high and waist-high for about the length of a football field, Eagle County sheriff’s Deputy James Jessel said.
The bridge, used by residents to get to their homes, was described as an old railroad car that had its wheels and box removed.
It was pushed downstream. No injuries were reported. No other damage was reported.
CHEYENNE
Fire chief accused of having sex with boy
The Campbell County fire chief sexually assaulted a teenage boy multiple times in the early part of this decade, federal prosecutors alleged in court documents.
Gary Scott, 52, was arrested last week and charged with transporting a minor across state lines with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. He made an initial court appearance Monday and was ordered held without bail pending a hearing Thursday in Cheyenne.
In a sworn affidavit filed with the court, Special Agent Robert Leazenby of the state Division of Criminal Investigation said the teen told investigators Scott sexually assaulted him repeatedly in 2000.
Leazenby also alleged Scott told investigators last Friday that he had sex with the boy knowing he was younger than 18 at the time.
WASHINGTON
Cheney to dedicate Grand Teton center
Vice President Dick Cheney will dedicate a visitor center in Grand Teton National Park this weekend.
The center, which has been in the works for many years, will be named after the late Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, who died June 4 while being treated for leukemia.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, and Thomas’ widow, Susan Thomas, are scheduled to attend the ceremony.
President Bush signed a bill last month that added nearly 50 acres to the park and named the new building the “Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center.” Cheney has a home in Jackson Hole near the park.
