A 58-year-old man has been extradited to Denver from Virginia as a suspect in a cold case murder from 1994, in which a woman was beaten and smothered to death in a motel room.
Steven Cumberbatch is being held for investigation of first-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Rita Desjardine, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Desjardine’s body, nude and partially covered lying in bed, was at the old Broadway Plaza Motel, 1111 Broadway, on Dec. 7, 1994, according to an arrest warrant. Motel staff called 911.
Investigators recovered evidence from the room including a palm and finger prints on a bloody bedsheet, and a pair of men’s shorts. The evidence, through DNA testing, led investigators to Cumberbatch in July 2018, according to a DA’s news release.
