KUSA — A man who has been in custody for drug charges since Aug. 13 is now accused of shooting three people near the Broadway light rail station earlier that month.
Maurice Butler, 38, was arrested Thursday for investigation of three counts of first-degree murder for the Aug. 9 triple homicide. In a news release, the Denver Police Department said Butler knew at least two of the victims, and that this wasn’t a random crime.
Additional information about a motive was not released by DPD.
The three victims, 28-year-old Nicole Boston, 39-year-old Jerome Coronado, and 45-year-old Christopher Zamudio, were found with fatal gunshot wounds in the 700 block of South Broadway. A passerby spotted their bodies and called police.
All three victims were homeless at the time of their deaths.
Boston and Coronado were married and leave behind two children who are now orphans, Boston’s mother Connie Jones said during a vigil last month.
“Their lives were cut short. There’s no ending. It’s just left hanging there,” Jones said.
Boston had another child from a previous marriage. That child’s father was killed in 2008.
“The world is a different place without my daughter especially, and I want everyone to know that she was loved, she had a home,” Jones said.
In the news release, DPD said tips from the community to Crime Stoppers helped crack the case.
Butler was already in custody for unlawful possession of a controlled substance and a parole violation and did not make bond during a court date on Aug. 21.
His arrest affidavit is sealed, and the Denver District Attorney’s Office has not said what charges they will pursue.
According to Denver Jail records, he is being held in the Denver County Jail for investigation of first-degree murder.
