Denver Police Arrest Innis Lee Collins In Connection With Girlfriend's Murder

By Anna Maria Basquez

DENVER (CBS4)- Denver police arrested the suspect on suspicion of killing his girlfriend over the weekend. The victim was found in an apartment stairwell at 25 E. 16th Ave. on the morning of April 23.

Police arrested Innis Lee Collins, 30, on suspicion of first-degree murder.

"It is believed that Collins and the victim were in a current or previous relationship," according to the press release issued by the Denver Police Department.

Officers responded to an 8:15 a.m. call to the address when a caller stated he found an unconscious person lying in the stairwell whom he believed was a female in her 20s with a lot of bruising to her upper torso. The caller, according to the affidavit, said the woman was "cold to the touch." The paramedics pronounced her deceased at 8:25 a.m.

Investigators secured the scene with crime tape and observed the victim between the second and third floors, describing her as "wearing light blue color jeans, a gray McDonald's shirt, black socks on each foot, and a black hair cap covering her hair and forehead." Also observed, according to the affidavit, was "significant bruising and contusions on the victim's face, upper torso and both arms… A 'blood trail' was observed in the alley, west of the apartment building. Blood was also observed in the driveway of the bank at 1600 Broadway. There were several blood drops near the driveway along Broadway. At the time, the blood trail appeared to be connected to the location where the victim was found."

Staff at the apartment building confirmed Collins lived in apartment 302 alone, according to the document. "The staff reported that there were prior disturbances involving Innis Collins and an unknown female…"

Surveillance camera video showed that at 8:32 p.m. on Friday, April 22, Collins was seen entering the lobby and continuing to his apartment. At about 9:54 p.m., a person was seen then carrying another person out of the same apartment as the "person exit the hallway which leads to the stairwell where the victim was found. The person being carried appeared to be unconscious as the head and arms swung freely." At 9:57 p.m. the affidavit states a man wearing a heavy coat, knit style cap and pants exited the building through the alley. At about 10:04 p.m., Collins was seen then going into the building's main entrance wearing a black t-shirt, knee-length pants and black sliders on his feet. He was then seen entering his apartment and then leaving his apartment using the stairwell to exit.

The affidavit noted a reported domestic violence incident occurred on Feb. 24, in the same apartment believed to be of the same physical description as the female victim in the stairwell, officials said. In that case, Collins had been arrested for assault.

Denver Police Department's SWAT Team cleared the studio apartment, finding blood splatters on numerous locations and walls, according to the affidavit, and within the shower. Further surveillance video nearby the location tracked the apparent suspect shedding the clothing apparently worn to carry the body and replacing it with clothing other cameras recorded him wearing.

During the autopsy of the victim, the affidavit reported during the external exam, doctors "noted significant and extensive bruising, abrasions and lacerations to the victim's head, arms, torso, back and legs," in addition to at least 10 different abrasions, lacerations and contusions on the victim's head and ears as well as "several pattered abrasions on the face, forehead, torso, and arms."

"I don't know where we arrested him, but I think that he pretty much knew it was coming," said Officer Kurt Barnes, spokesman for the Denver Police Department.