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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Man's Remains Found in '04 ID'd

By T.J. Wilham
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer
    It's tough for Michael Denman to look at a photograph of his brother. As he stares at the image, he can't help but wonder.
    Would his brother have turned his life around? How close was he to finding his brother? And how did his brother's torso end up buried on the Southwest Mesa wrapped in a green jacket?
    "It's hard for me to look at that picture," Michael Denman said as he stared at a framed photograph of his brother, Donny, whose skeletal remains were identified last month.
    "It's hard because it's pretty obvious someone cut my brother up into pieces."
    Michael and his sisters had been searching for their brother since he walked away from the family's northeast Albuquerque home in a drug-fueled rage in 2003 and later failed to show up for his mother's funeral.
    The siblings looked in homeless shelters. They drove along Central looking at faces of people walking by. They even occasionally stopped people to ask if they were Donny.
    In May 2006, the family got closer to finding answers when Donny's sister, Dianna, read a story in the Journal about a body police had found in June 2004. The body had been wrapped in a jacket, and the head and legs were missing.
    She thought the body could be her brother's. After a series of DNA tests, last month the FBI confirmed it was.
    Skeletal remains were released to the family. They had a small service in a downtown church last month— nearly five years after police believed Denman died. About 80 people attended.
    "Donny had a rough life," said his sister, Mary. "At least we were glad we were able to bring him home."
    Albuquerque police detectives have opened a homicide investigation. They have declined to say how Donny was killed.
    The remains were found during construction of a sewer line for the Sun Gate development near Gibson and Unser SW. His body was buried 3 to 5 feet deep.
    Detectives say they have some leads but still need help from the public.
    "It was a miracle he was found, considering how deep he was buried," said Detective Rich Lewis of APD's Cold Case Unit. "It was a miracle that the family saw the jacket and identified him. We just need a few more miracles to figure out what happened to Mr. Denman."
    His family says Donny made bad decisions at a young age. He had several arrests for mostly minor crimes in New Mexico and Texas, such as reckless driving and theft. He did some time in a Texas jail.
    Most of his arrests in Albuquerque were for failing to appear in court for traffic violations.
    His most recent arrest was in 2000. When he was booked into jail, Donny was wearing the same green jacket police found on the torso.
    Family members say they tried to get Donny help for his methamphetamine addiction.
    "We kept thinking that Donny would be able to turn his life around," his sister, Mary, said. "Now he has no chance of doing that."
    Donny was living with his mother in 2003.
    He got into an argument with her one day, and his brothers and sisters came over to the Constitution NE home to try to get him to move out. They were willing to pay for an apartment for him.
    He walked away screaming at his brothers and sisters. That was the last time they saw him.
    "I still look at the faces of homeless men," Michael said. "I have to remind myself to stop. But I can't. I can't stop looking for him."