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On night homeless man is beaten, pair tie information given by victim to 'mall rats' stopped for questioning
By Lynn Bartels
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Two Denver police rookies had barely celebrated their one-year anniversary when they answered a call that would give detectives a break into a series of brutal attacks on homeless men.
In September, officers Raul Silvas and Paul Jimenez grilled four young transients walking near a street grate where an older transient had just been attacked.
Their work was the turning point in an investigation that began Sept. 7, when police found two dead homeless men under a bridge -- the first of five transients to be beaten to death in lower downtown.
"I thought we did a good job, to be real honest," Jimenez said. "I think our diligence may have played a small part in assisting in the investigation."
Police Chief Tom Sanchez said their diligence played a large part.
Silvas, 34, and Jimenez, 27, graduated from the police academy in August 1998. They work the graveyard shift in District 6 and patrol large sections of LoDo, where the down-and-out were being attacked.
"Everybody was concerned," Silvas said. "This is your area. You want to take care of it pretty good."
About 1 a.m. Sept. 26, police got a report about an assault near 18th and Arapahoe streets. Transient Thomas Hollis, 44, was bleeding from the head and face.
"He couldn't really talk because he was very beat up," Jimenez said.
Silvas, meanwhile had stopped four young men on Arapahoe Street. They were what police call "mall rats," homeless kids who hang out on the 16th Street Mall, beg for change and occasionally cause trouble.
One, Thomas Holden, 18, had a split lip and blood on his clothing. Another, Micheal Leathers, 19, had blood on his shoes. They were with Nathan Harrison, 20, and Kevin Himebaugh, 17.
"That's my blood," Holden told the cops. "Somebody hit me in the face with a rock."
Jimenez decided to see if he could get any more information from the homeless man, so he went to Denver Health Medical Center.
"He's kind of out of it, and I have to press him,'' Jimenez said. "He tells me about being asleep on the steam grate and somebody comes up and starts kicking him. In order to defend himself, he picks up a rock and hits a guy in the face.
"A light goes off."
Police took the young men in for questioning, fingerprinted and photographed them and sent the bloody clothing to the lab to be tested. But Hollis couldn't identify them, so they were released.
"Now it goes to the detectives, and they do a fantastic job," Silvas said.
The next break came Oct. 4, when street musician George Burdge stopped police to tell them he recognized one of the young men who had attacked him Sept. 25 -- just a few hours before Hollis was injured.
Burdge identified Leathers, according to arrest affidavits filed in Denver District Court. Police arrested Leathers on Oct. 4 and Holden on Oct. 9.
Then came another break.
Lab tests from the clothing police had confiscated revealed Burdge's blood was on Holden's pants, according to court records.
Holden admitted being present during the attacks on Hollis and Burdge and during the beating of Melvin Washington, 47, who died Sept. 15, police said.
Holden gave police the names of his companions, court records show.
Based on Holden's information, prosecutors have charged Holden, Harrison and Christopher Ball, 16, with first-degree murder in Washington's slaying.
In addition, Holden and Harrison are charged with attempted first-degree murder in the attacks on Hollis and Burdge.
Also charged in the attacks are Leathers, Himebaugh, Octavia Montoya, 18, Michael Nelson, 19, and Alexander Taapken, 21.
So far, police have not linked any of the young people to the beating deaths of the other four homeless men, homicide Sgt. Jon Priest said.
Police are waiting for the next big break.
"It's a team effort, and we really rely on each other to bring a case to solution," Priest said. "Everybody did their part."
Silvas said, "When somebody is hurting somebody, you feel pretty good when you can help."
November 15, 1999
