When Larry Manzanares died last year, he left behind a torn-apart motorcycle that he planned to rebuild.
Now that bike, a Confederate Hellcat, will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be split between a scholarship in his name and the Four Corners Child Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that works with child-abuse victims.
Former Denver City Attorney Manzanares, 50, committed suicide after he was found with a stolen laptop in his possession and he was charged with theft and embezzlement. In addition to serving as a district judge for 15 years, the Harvard-educated Manzanares was a motorcycle aficionado who loved to rebuild bikes.
“He was a pretty well-accomplished motorhead,” said Pete Montaño, his brother-in-law, who is also enamored of motorcycles. Manzanares bought the 2001 Hellcat on eBay from someone who put 184 miles on the odometer before wrecking it. Manzanares took the bike apart and died before he could finish rebuilding it. His widow, Peggy Montaño, is Pete’s sister. She asked whether he wanted the motorcycle, and he brought it home to finish what Manzanares had started. Montaño is planning a silent auction with bids starting at $22,000 at the upcoming Colorado Motorcycle Show. The show, at the National Western Complex in Denver, is scheduled for Feb. 2 and 3.
