The first involves Aurora Police Detective Michael D. Thomas, 52, who was fatally shot in September 2006 while stopped at a traffic light at Peoria Street and Montview Boulevard. He was driving between police training centers when a single bullet struck his left side; he was pronounced dead shortly after at the University of Colorado at Denver Hospital. A 27-year-old suspect, Brian Allen Washington, was apprehended at the scene, charged with first-degree murder, and a handgun was recovered. An arrest affidavit says Washington admitted to another officer that he had shot Thomas and made statements claiming to be a federal agent. Washington was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 80 years in prison. The case drew renewed attention nearly two decades later after discovery that a retired detective had stored case documents at home, a fact that could affect a pending appeal.

A separate, older case involves 19-year-old Michael Franklin Thomas, found dead the morning of June 23, 1979, in Denver’s Washington Park. A parks employee found him in a sleeping bag with significant blood around his head; responders determined he had been shot to death. No suspect has ever been identified and the homicide remains a cold case. If anyone has information about either Michael Thomas, please share what you know with the appropriate police department.