Denise Davenport was found dead 37 years ago this week. Officials are still searching for answers.
This week is the anniversary of when the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, or WCSO, opened the case to look into Davenport’s death. Her body was found in the South Platte River near Greeley.
Davenport, who was 20 years old at the time of her death, was a student at the University of Northern Colorado, where she was also involved in a sorority, according to Byron Kastilahn, the lead cold case detective at WCSO. Davenport also worked at the Greeley Mall.
On February 24, 1985, Davenport was last seen alive by a coworker as she was leaving the Greeley Mall around 5 p.m. She was supposed to attend an event at her sorority that started at 6 p.m. that evening, but she never showed up.
Davenport was seen leaving the mall in her boyfriend’s car – a blue, two-door Mazda RX 7 – which she was borrowing from him at the time, Kastilahn said.
Her boyfriend, who hadn’t seen Davenport since the day prior to her disappearance, reported both his missing car and girlfriend to the Greeley Police Department, or GPD.
A few days later, the car was discovered on Ninth Avenue near Frazier Hall, located on the University of Northern Colorado’s campus, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Files website.
Fingerprints taken from the car revealed only Davenport and her boyfriend’s DNA, Kastilahn said.
Davenport’s case continued as a missing person case under GPD’s jurisdiction until April 1985.
Nearly two months following her disappearance, on April 20, Davenport’s remains were located by kayakers in the South Platte River, one mile east of Highway 34 between 18th Street and Highway 34, according to the case details.
Because Davenport’s remains were found outside of Greeley, the case fell under WCSO jurisdiction. WCSO deemed the case a homicide.
WCSO has been investigating the homicide of Davenport for nearly 37 years, however, the investigation has revealed little evidence and no suspects, according to Kastilahn.
“(The Davenport case) is very mysterious,” Kastilahn said. “Nobody had been threatening her or had any problems with her and there was no motive.”
Considering Davenport’s history with smoking marijuana — she had been arrested two years prior to her death on drug-related charges — WCSO initally suspected known drug dealers in Greeley for her murder.
“We figured, maybe a drug deal went wrong and they killed her,” Kastilahn said.
In press interviews about the case, the Larimer County Sheriff named a man who was known for having a violent criminal record in Greeley in the 80s as the prime suspect for Davenport’s murder, although “that very much angered (WCSO’s) Sheriff at the time,” Kastilahn recalled, “because we had no information that led us to believe that he was involved.”
WCSO’s interviews with all suspects have yielded no useful information. There have been very few leads in the investigation of Davenport’s homicide, he said.
“I’ve talked to a lot of her friends and family and the same information has been consistent,” Kastilahn said. “No suspect has come forward in the interviews or anything. It’s an aggravating case for sure.”
Although leads in other cold cases have consumed Kastilahn recently, he plans to resume working on Davenport’s murder investigation soon, he said.
If anyone has any information about the details surrounding Davenport’s death, they’re asked to contact Detective Byron Kastilahn with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office at 970-400-2827.
