Found Body Could Be Missing Lakewood Man
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Investigators are trying to figure out if a body found in Clear Creek County is that of a missing Lakewood man who hasn't been seen for three weeks.
Lakewood police are still keeping possession of Dave Noren's home. It's the place where they found evidence of foul play. They haven't revealed exactly what that evidence was, but what was found in Clear Creek County could be their biggest clue yet.
Not far from the road but just far enough to be hidden from plain view, a body was discovered by hikers Friday morning.
"It's a little ways off the road, so we have to be careful of any evidence that may potentially be there," Detective Ryan McKone with Lakewood police said. "We have to slowly work our way to the body."
Noren, 45, was last seen May 19 and reported missing when he didn't show up to work. Police searched his home and say they found evidence of foul play, a struggle they believe Noren may have been the victim of.
Noren's roommate was questioned but not arrested, leaving police with not much else to go on until now.
"I can say that the body has been there for some time. Now the amount of time is undetermined," McKone said.
"I feel terrible. I feel like, why wasn't I observant enough, as observant as I am, to have seen something going on?" Clear Creek County resident Bettie Walden said.
Walden lives in the area where the body was found and she remembers seeing the reports of a missing Lakewood man.
"When something like this happens you're going, 'Why? What is going on? Why didn't we know about it?" Walden said.
While the body has not been positively identified, Walden says it's sad just the same.
"I feel really bad for the family, for him," she said.
Lakewood police say the body is now in the custody of the Jefferson County coroner. They hope to have a positive identification sometime this weekend.
