DENVER -- 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 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.

He said he didn't remember how much he had paid for it. According to the affidavit, Manzanares said the unidentified man provided him with a password for the computer.

"When I was informed that there was a computer that was stolen and that it might be one that I had, I immediately brought it back because, until that point, I had no idea. The minute I learned that there was a stolen computer, I brought it in," Manzanares told Kovleski.

The computer was stolen from a storage room in Denver District Court, where Manzanares was a former judge and was valued at $1,579, according to a police report filed on Jan. 26.

In addition to theft and embezzlement charges, the Harvard graduate had faced charges of tampering with evidence, official misconduct and computer crime.

When charges were announced against Manzanres earlier this month, his attorney issued a brief statement that called his client, "a human being with an extraordinary reputation as a good lawyer, judge, public servant, husband, father, son, and friend."

Saturday night, as news of his suicide spread, friends and colleagues said the investigation had a huge impact on Manzanares.

"I am furious at the media and the prosecution for savaging and debasing him in the manner that they unnecessarily did," said Michael Canges, a longtime friend. "I'm talking about the lack of substance in terms of what he was charged with was a relatively minor offense. To emblazon that event all over the media, I think how it was handled was unnecessary and cruel."

In a statement, the Manzanarez family referred to "unfair and one-sided attempts to publicly try him in the press by attacking his character."

Chief Justice Luis D. Rovira, a retired Colorado Supreme Court Justice, had known Manzanarez since he was a boy, and wants him to be remembered for his long and distinguished legal career and community service.

“Just a delightful young man, fine judge and a decent, wonderful human being,” he said.