A Fort Collins man was taken into custody Monday on suspicion of murder in the strangulation of 20-year-old Linnea Dick, who was found dead in her burning home Friday.
Fort Collins police said that Joseph Curl, 29, was contacted about 2 p.m. and taken to the Fort Collins police station where he was interviewed.
Investigators said that he went with them voluntarily and was officially taken into custody at 4:15 p.m., after the interrogation.
Curl is being held for investigation of first-degree murder and sexual assault.
Don Dick, Linnea’s father, said he was overwhelmed.
“I’m just horrified. It was totally unjustified. He ruined so many lives,” Dick said shortly after the arrest was announced.
Dick said he was told that Curl abandoned his daughter’s vehicle — a teal 1997 Nissan Altima — on the west side of Fort Collins.
“They were tipped off that he was a person of interest,” Dick said. When police spoke with Curl, the tip panned out, he said. Dick said he had been told that Curl was an acquaintance of his daughter’s boyfriend and that his daughter had met Curl several months ago.
Don Dick, who had never heard of Curl before Monday, said it was also his understanding that his daughter did not like Curl and had asked her boyfriend not to invite the man to the house again.
“She was very uncomfortable” around Curl, Dick said.
Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Services, said the arrest warrant for Curl has been sealed at the request of authorities.The nationwide alert for the car has been canceled.
Charye Curl, of Moline, Ill., said that Joseph Curl is her nephew. She said his dad, Jack Curl, of Denver, and her ex-husband are brothers. She said that both Joseph Curl and his older brother have had previous run-ins with the law.
“They were both rambunctious boys,” said Charye Curl. “They did everything together. They got into trouble together. Dysfunctional — that whole family was dysfunctional.”
Iowa and Illinois records show that Joseph Curl has been previously arrested for for burglary and theft. He was also sentenced in 1996 to 10 years in an Illinois prison for escape and possession of a stolen vehicle, but he appears to have been released in 1999. Joseph Curl’s only run-in with the law in Colorado was a traffic ticket in 2007 in Fort Collins, according to state records.
Jackie D. Curl Jr., who has convictions for burglary, is a registered sexual offender in Rock Island, Ill. He was released from a Florida prison last year after serving time for resisting arrest with violence and failing to register as a sexual offender. There is no indication that he is in Colorado.
Although Joseph has been in trouble with the law before, Charye Curl gasped when she heard that he is under investigation for sexual assault and murder.
Earlier in the day, at a news conference underway just as Fort Collins police were about to arrest Curl, the Dick family noted that last fall, Linnea Dick called police after she caught a man looking through the door of her home. The man was never found.
Dick was found dead in a house in the 100 block of Yale Avenue in Fort Collins last week. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted.
The assailant had set two fires in the house. In the home with Dick were three cats and her dog, Lage, a Chihuahua, who was rescued from the fire. One of the cats died.
“She had a strong family bond that made her a wonderful sister, daughter and friend,” said Dick’s uncle, Terry Snyder. “Her heart also extended to her pets. She had a great capacity for animals, which was shown by her willingness to adopt unwanted animals.”
The last time her parents saw her, she was holding Lage’s paws to wave at them as they left.
Davis said that Dick’s boyfriend was at work at the time of the murder and has cooperated fully with police. He has also spoken at length with Dick’s mother.
Dick was found in her upstairs apartment when firefighters arrived at her home about 11:15 a.m. Friday. They carried her outside the home but determined that she was dead.
Her sister, Andrea Gliva, said Linnea would have trusted anyone. “She gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. She would have trusted anyone,” Gliva said through her tears.
Post library researcher Barry Osborne contributed to this report.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
