City Attorney Accused Of Laptop Theft Found Dead

ENVER -- Former Denver City Attorney Lawrence "Larry" Manzanares, 50, was found dead Friday afternoon, the Denver County Coroner's Office confirmed Saturday, but the coroner would not release his cause of death.Denver Police issued a brief statement on Saturday that said, "The Denver Police Department received a call yesterday June 22, 2007 at approximately 4:55 p.m. regarding a male that appeared to have been shot. Officers responded to the approximate location of Dartmouth and Colorado, Eisenhower Park under the walk bridge down in the Highline Canal area. Officers arrived and found a male later identified as Larry Manzanares at this location, an apparent victim of a suicide. No further information is available."Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper issued a statement confirming the death.Manzanares, 50, resigned his position last February following a 7NEWS investigation, headed by 7NEWS Investigator Tony Kovaleski. He had been appointed to his position by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper less than two months earlier and took office on Jan. 4.Manzanares told 7NEWS that he bought the Gateway M280 laptop from a stranger in a parking lot near City Hall. He denied stealing it.An investigation traced the laptop to his home and investigators said a large amount of pornography was erased from the laptop immediately after Manzanares was informed the laptop had been traced to his Comcast account. It had been reported stolen shortly before Manzanares said he bought it. He was never able to identify the man who he claimed sold him the laptop.
DENVER NEWS