Victim’s name: Michael Dobbins, 54
Where body found: alley on 1200 block of South Nevada Avenue
Investigative agency: Colorado Springs Police Department
Date killed: Nov. 9, 1997
Cause of Death: stabbed
Suspect: None identified
There’s a drunk lying in the alley. Could someone come and do something about it?
So came the report to the Colorado Springs Police Department dispatch on Nov. 9, 1997.
Courtesy of the Colorado Springs Police DepartmentMichael Dobbins, 54
It wasn’t an unusual call for this part of town.
Michael Dobbins, 54, was lying in an alley between the Economy Inn and a tire company in the 1200 block of South Nevada Avenue.
It was across the street from Dorchester Park, a popular hangout for homeless people.
The call came in at about 3 a.m.
But when officers arrived, they discovered that Dobbins wasn’t drunk, he was dead.
Someone had stabbed Dobbins to death.
His body was lying beside a trash bin.
Not much is known about the struggle that led to Dobbins’ death. Police don’t have a suspect and did not find a knife.
Dobbins was a former chef and amateur artist, according to an article in the The Gazette of Colorado Springs, which said he moved to Colorado Springs from New York to live near his daughter about a year before he was murdered.
He had a drinking problem and may have been living in a camper near where his body was found, The Gazette reported in 1997.
His daughter had last seen him on his birthday, five days before he died, the newspaper had reported.
Police sought out friends and acquaintances and checked guest registries at nearby motels in an effort to reconstruct Dobbins’ last days, but no leads led to an arrest.
Contact information: The Colorado Springs Police Department can be reached at 719-444-7613 or CSPDColdCase@springsgov.com . Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
