Denver authorities released a murder suspect after linking him by DNA to the victim’s apartment and after he confessed to bashing the disabled man’s head against a wall and stomping him to death in 1978 because of a miscommunication between a judge and a prosecutor, authorities say.
Shawn Mandell Winkler, 60, a suspect in the murder of 18-year-old Van T. Rogers, walked into Denver police headquarters on Oct. 23 and confessed to the brutal slaying that left Rogers’ body virtually unrecognizable to his own family.
“Certainly it was an unfortunate issue of miscommunication,” Denver District Attorney’s spokeswoman Maro Casparian said of Winkler’s snafu release.
The Denver County Court judge ordered formal charges to be filed against Winkler by 1 p.m. on Monday, but the prosecutor believed he only needed to file for an extension to file charges, Casparian said. The district attorney’s office filed the request for an extension by the deadline but did not file formal charges, she said.
On the judge’s order, Winkler was released on his own recognizance at 8 p.m. Monday, according to Denver jail officials.
A warrant for Winkler’s arrest wasn’t issued until Thursday, according to court records. On Thursday, Denver police released a Crime Stoppers bulletin that said they have an arrest warrant for Winkler, who is homeless.
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said police took Winkler into custody, a second time, at about 7 p.m. Friday in the Capitol Hill area, near East 14th Avenue and Logan Street. “It’s a loss of life and we’re taking it very seriously.”
In January of 1978, police were called to the back of a building at 1025 E. 12th Ave. They found a man lying on the ground with obvious trauma to his face. Detectives collected a fresh cigarette butt, an empty tequila bottle, an empty cigarette pack and an empty beer can.
An acquaintance of Winkler’s contacted The Denver Post recently and explained that Rogers’ body was so severely beaten that his father could only identify him by scars on his body.
Rogers, an alcoholic, was born with special needs and lived on his own. Someone had stolen a ring of keys that Rogers always kept tied to a string. When police went to his apartment at 930 Downing St. they found the place in disarray. Numerous items were missing including a TV, a stereo and a record player. Police also found a cigarette butt in the home.
The cold case was reopened for investigative purposes in 2005, 2011 and in 2017, according to the affidavit for Winkler’s arrest. In May, the Denver crime lab connected DNA found in Rogers’ apartment to Winkler.
A search began for Winkler, who was then wanted on a shoplifting warrant out of Lakewood. He was intoxicated when he was arrested on that warrant on Oct. 2. When Denver detectives interviewed him that day, Winkler denied ever being in Rogers’ home or having anything to do with his murder, the affidavit says.
Police released him and asked him to call back if he remembered anything.
At 4:55 p.m. on Oct. 23, Winkler walked into Denver Police Department headquarters and agreed to a videotaped interview.
Hey, #Denver! How about you help us catch this murder suspect and earn some reward mula! Just some #ThursdayThoughts… pic.twitter.com/xqMhyvk5D4
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 2, 2017
Winkler said in 1978 he knew Rogers as Vance. Winkler met Rogers in the House of Draft bar on the evening of Jan. 13, 1978. He told detectives that Rogers was saying inappropriate things to his girlfriend and another woman that was with their party.
Winkler told police he and Rogers left the bar, ostensibly to find different female companionship. They went to a woman’s home but she declined “any encounter with them.” They walked to Capitol Hill to look for another woman. He said Rogers made a crude remark about women and Winkler’s girlfriend.
Angry, Winkler stiff armed Rogers’ face, causing him to strike his head on a wall and then fall. Winkler then stomped on Rogers’ head once, he said. He stole Rogers’ wallet and house keys and went to Rogers’ home with friends and burglarized the home.
He said he and two friends took a stereo, speakers and a turntable.