Members of the tight-knit community of Hudson gathered Thursday night to mourn two slain neighbors as authorities searched for clues as to who would commit such a crime.
The bodies of a man and a woman were found Thursday morning inside a rural home in the 42000 block of East 144th Avenue in unincorporated Adams County.
Authorities did not release the identities of the victims, but friends of the couple identified them as Harold “Hap” Enander, 69, and Sue Enander, 61.
No suspects had been named as of Thursday night. About 7 p.m., a search warrant was executed at the home. There was no indication that the deaths were a murder-suicide, authorities said.
“Foul play is suspected. It’s being handled as a double homicide,” said Adams County sheriff’s spokeswoman Candi Baker.
At the First Baptist Church of Hudson on Thursday night, about 100 people gathered to grieve and pray.
“Everyone’s trying to cope right now,” said the Rev. Skip Higgins, who lives next to the Enanders. “They were very close to everybody in the congregation. It’s a real tragedy.”
Higgins’ wife, Linda, was concerned that she had not heard from Sue Enander in a while, so she went to check on her about 9 a.m. Thursday. That’s when she spotted Sue Enander on the floor, which was covered with blood, and called police.
Authorities did not say how the Enanders died, but the Rev. Higgins said his wife said they both had been shot.
The motive for the killings was unknown. Higgins said the house was “all tore up.”
The Enanders owned Aqua Hot Heating Systems, a Fort Lupton company that makes heating systems for recreational vehicles and employs 65 people. Employees were informed of the deaths Thursday afternoon.
The couple were heavily involved in their church, working with the children of the congregation, said family friend Al Colby, whose daughter works for Aqua Hot. Harold Enander was the church treasurer, and both Enanders were involved with music there.
“The little kids in the church just loved the two people, and all the adults just loved Hap and Sue,” Colby said.
Colby said the Enanders, who had been married for about three years, were wonderful people. They enjoyed children, fishing and boating and helping others, he said.
“I’d have to hunt like hell to find anyone who would have anything bad to say about him,” Colby said. “Hap was the kind of guy who you could take something out of his hands and he would ask if you really needed it, then he would give it to you.”
The area where the murders took place is rural, and neighbors are barely within eyesight. Still, people there are close. And answers were hard to come by Thursday night.
“It’s just an unbelievable shock,” Colby said. “We could accept it had it been an accident. But this?”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175
