DENVER — A man was found not guilty in a murder that occurred at a downtown hotel on Christmas Day 2020.
Tonell Love was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault in the killing of 36-year-old Paul Norwood. The assault charge was dropped by the Denver District Attorney's Office earlier this year, according to court documents. Love was acquitted of the murder charge on July 14, 2023.
According to a heavily-redacted affidavit from the Denver Police Department, a hotel employee at the Hyatt Place in downtown Denver called 911 on Christmas morning in 2020 and said she had been contacted by a guest who said she needed to send someone to his room because he was injured.
When another employee checked on that man – later identified as Norwood – he was unable to communicate and was bleeding profusely. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A witness later told detectives that they had spotted a suspicious man loitering in the lobby when officers responded, according to the affidavit. The man asked the front desk if anyone had found a brown or tan bag. Someone had, and the employee gave the bag to the man, later identified as Love, after he identified it as his.
Love told detectives that he was not staying at the hotel but did sleep in the lobby overnight.
After watching surveillance video of Love in the lobby, the affidavit says, another detective recognized Love as a suspect in a criminal mischief case from the night before.
Love returned to the hotel, and that’s when officers learned he had a felony warrant for aggravated domestic violence in Denver and took him into custody for that warrant.
Love's interview with DPD was heavily redacted in the affidavit, so it was unclear from the affidavit how detectives connected him to the murder. It was also unclear if Norwood knew Love.
As of July 17, 2023, Love is still being held in the Denver Detention Center on other charges unrelated to the murder.
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