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No evidence found to connect killings of five homeless men
By Hector Gutierrez
News Staff Writer
The man found dead in a field in lower downtown last week was beaten to death, as were four others before him, Denver police confirmed Tuesday.
Kenneth Rapp, 42, died of a blunt trauma on the head.
Detectives believe Rapp was a transient. He is the fifth homeless slaying victim discovered in lower downtown since Sept. 7.
All five died from blunt trauma, but police do not know whether the killings are linked.
Police said they think Rapp, who was found last Friday by a city crew clearing weeds near 19th and Lipan streets, may have been dead three or four weeks.
During the last week of September, police from various units met to compare the murders. They found similarities and dissimilarities among the killings.
The department has assigned a detective to coordinate information related to the killings and other asssaults. But the homeless slayings have proved difficult to investigate. For one thing, no one reported the dead men missing.
``It's just that much harder for investigators to gain any leads. The homeless tend to stay by themselves and keep to themselves. It's hard to find anyone who knows them personally or what occurs to them during their normal day,'' said detective Virginia Lopez.
The Denver district attorney has charged an 18-year-old man with the Sept. 25 non-fatal assault and robbery of a homeless man. Detectives said Michael Leathers, whose last hometown was Littleton, also is a suspect in the attack on another transient Sept. 26.
However, blood samples taken from Leathers did not connect him to the murder scenes.
On Sept. 7, workers found the beaten bodies of George Worth, 62, and Donald Dyer, 51, beneath a loading dock in the 2400 block of Blake Street.
On Sept. 8, Melvin Washington, 47, was discovered beaten at 18th and Larimer streets. Washington died a week later.
Then on Sept. 26, the battered body of Milo Harris, 51, was found in the South Platte River.
October 27, 1999
