KUSA — Two of the three people who were shot and killed execution-style near a Denver light rail station owed their alleged killer money for drug debts, according to an affidavit.
Maurice Butler, known on the street as "Khaos", is accused of shooting 28-year-old Nicole Boston, 39-year-old Jerome Coronado, and 45-year-old Christopher Zamudio, in the head as they slept on August 9 in the 700 block of South Broadway.
According to the affidavit, Boston and Coronado were hiding from Butler because they owed him money - an amount between $100 and $200 - for drugs.
Several witnesses that detectives spoke with about the shooting said the pair left Civic Center Park in an effort to get away from Butler.
The affidavit also says Coronado was seen with a black eye in the days and weeks before his death, and told people that "Khaos" beat him up over Boston's $200 drug debt.
That same witness told police he believed that Coronado may have had broken ribs because he had a hard time breathing.
Another witness told police that Butler was "actively recruiting people to find where Coronado and Boston were hiding and was willing to forgive drug debts for the information on their whereabouts."
A woman who said she considered herself Butler's girlfriend told detectives she saw Butler on August 8 both before and after the shootings. She mentioned after the shootings, Butler was "acting weird" and said "God's gonna punish me for what I did," but didn't specify what happened.
Butler was arrested on drug charges on August 13.
According to the affidavit, the GPS ankle monitor that Butler was wearing as a condition of his parole placed him at the crime scene at the time of the shootings. After an investigation, Butler was arrested on Sept. 6 and charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the triple shooting.
Boston and Coronado were married and leave behind two children who are now orphans, Boston’s mother Connie Jones said during a vigil in August.
Court records did not clearly identify a motive in the killing of Zamudio.
