DENVER – Police have arrested a man believed to have slashed the throat of his boss and stolen his money before dumping him on the side of the road Saturday morning near 53rd Ave. and Washington St.
Michael Sell, 48, was arrested Wednesday for investigation on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of a 77-year-old man for whom he had been working.
Police said Saturday they were looking for Sell hours after the alleged murder occurred just before 7 a.m. Saturday.
According to an affidavit for Sell’s arrest, the murder victim, who has not been identified aside from his age, had been hired by the man to do some landscaping work. Sell was an acquaintance of a man who lived in the victim’s home and needed work.
A driver discovered the victim on the side of the road near 53rd Ave. and Washington in Adams County just before 7 a.m. Saturday. His face and neck were covered in blood and he was struggling to breathe but was still alive at that point. He was believed to have been attacked several blocks south in Denver.
While he was being taken to Denver Health Medical Center, he told paramedics his injuries were caused by a man who worked for him named Mike, according to the affidavit. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour-and-a-half after he was first discovered alongside the road.
The affidavit says that after Sell and the victim went to Home Depot to buy some supplies that morning, Sell allegedly robbed the victim of around $8,000 in cash he had in his pocket, then stabbed him several times in the neck and face.
A person who lived at the victim’s home saw Sell there with the victim that morning, and also saw Sell come back after the alleged attack. Sell was allegedly driving the victim’s blue Chevrolet S-10 as well.
Several witness who police spoke to positively identified Sell as the man who was in the victim’s home and who went to Home Depot with the victim that day.
Denver police arrested Sell in an unknown location Wednesday after days of trying to find him. It’s unknown when he’s scheduled to make his first appearance, and he hasn’t been formally charged.
He does have an open case from April out of Denver for possession of a controlled substance and had an open warrant out of Broomfield County for failing to appear on a DUI and drug paraphernalia possession charge after his Dec. 26, 2017 arrest, according to state court records.
