A maintenance worker cleaning an alley between downtown businesses lifted a lid on a metal barrel and made a grisly discovery Tuesday morning: a dead body.
Denver police are revealing little about the discovery made about 10 a.m. between Arapahoe and Lawrence streets.
An autopsy will determine the cause of death. Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson would not comment on the person’s possible identity.
The area four blocks south of Coors Field is frequented by transients and is close to two bus stations and the Denver Rescue Mission.
The barrel was found in the edge of a public parking lot, behind a plumbing supply business and the Great Divide Brewing Co.
The container drew little notice amid the garbage bins and wooden crates in the alley, a block west of bustling Broadway.
“If it’s not obviously a murder, I’ll bet it’s a homeless person who crawled in there to sleep and died,” said Antwon Vasquez, who lives nearby. “They sleep all back in these alleys, and it’s been bad cold the last two nights.”
A dozen police officers combed the lot and alley around the metal barrel for hours until midday looking for evidence, witnesses said.
Jackson said homicide detectives were called, a standard procedure for such a discovery.
“It’s scary,” said Lynnette Long, a Lower Downtown resident who was walking her dog later in the day near where the body was found. “I guess (being scared) is the price you pay to live in a city, or anywhere else, really.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
