A Denver county judge advised a 38-year-old barefooted man wearing a padded smock that he was being held at the Denver jail for investigation of four felony charges including first-degree murder.
Denver County Judge Kerry Hada denied bail Friday for Chad W. Baluska in connection to a murder of 61-year-old Samuel Grady.
“The court really has no latitude with these charges other than a no-bond hold,” Hada told the man with blond hair, long side burns and a goatee.
A jail inmate whistled loudly in the holding area as the judge read the charges: first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, aggravated robbery and first-degree felony murder.
Hada admonished the other inmates to keep quite.
Baluska, wearing ankle manacles and handcuffs, wore a green jail shirt underneath the long buckled gray-and-black smock. He had fresh scratches on his calves, which were bare.
Baluska was stoic and silent through the short hearing and only nodded at Hada when the judge wished him well.
Denver police booked Baluska into the Denver municipal jail late Thursday night. The Denver medical examiner on Friday identified the dead man as Grady.
Police brought in the suspect for questioning initially after finding him Thursday in the 1500 block of West Byers Place passed out in a truck that possibly was stolen from the home where Grady was killed.
Officers were about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on a welfare check when they found the dead man.
The home on North Green Court was owned by former Colorado Rep. Frana Mace, who died in March at 80.
“During the initial investigation, it was discovered that a white, extended cab Ford F-250 truck (was) stolen from the scene of the crime,” police said in a news release.
Police say the man being questioned was found Thursday morning in a white pickup similar to the one taken from the homicide scene. He was located by a parking enforcement officer in the area, police said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
