Prospective buyers interested in a duplex in Monument may have walked a few feet above the decaying body of a dead child in a flooded crawl space.
The child’s death is being investigated as the first homicide in the history of Monument, Police Chief Jacob Shirk said Saturday.
“The homicide of a child is one of the most difficult and horrific crimes that law enforcement responds to,” Shirk said. “We are all parents and are deeply saddened by this event.”
A construction worker who was part of a crew draining the crawl space to install a new sump pump discovered the body Friday afternoon, according to Marilyn Longfield, who along with her husband, Robert, owns the duplex at 764 Century Place.
“It’s just absolutely the worst thing that could happen,” said Longfield, who lives in Mesa, Ariz., and contracts with a property manager to manage the rental property.
When two workers discovered the body, they called police at 4 p.m. Friday, Shirk said.
The identity, sex, race and age of the child have not been determined, Shirk said. The child could have been anywhere from 1 to 7 years old, he said.
“It was evident that the body had been there for a while,” Shirk said.
The apartment where the body was found has been vacant since November, when the couple evicted two men who failed to pay their rent. A woman may have been living with one of the men, Marilyn Longfield said. Authorities are trying to determine past occupants of the duplex. They will see whether any of them had a child.
Shirk said that the town of Monument, which has a population of about 18,000, does not have a missing-child case.
“How in the world could a child be down there?” Longfield said. “If there is a missing child, someone would report it. Children don’t go missing without someone saying something.”
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office is working with Monument police in the investigation, Shirk said.
An autopsy was completed Saturday morning by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.
“We are waiting for the results,” Shirk said.
Anyone with information about the case can call the Monument Police Department at 719-481-3253 or the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at 719-390-5555.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
