A woman who was strangled dead in a City Park West home was identified Tuesday and a suspect, her husband, has been charged with murder.
Sirena Duran-Maw, 44, was found dead Friday inside a house in the 1200 block of East 22nd Avenue, according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
An autopsy has been completed and Duran-Maw died of strangulation, the coroner’s office said.
Erik Maw, 49, the victim’s husband, has been charged with first-degree murder, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
On Friday, Maw called the victim’s family to report that she was not breathing and the family called 911, according to an arrest affidavit. Officers and an ambulance crew, at about 1 p.m., responded to 1228 E. 22nd Ave. and found Duran-Maw, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Maw told police that he and the victim had “got into a fight” and that he fell asleep. When he awoke, he said Duran-Maw was dead, according to the affidavit.
Taken to Denver police headquarters, Maw told investigators that the couple had been drinking vodka, the affidavit stated. Maw again told police that they had got into a fight and he went to sleep.
According to the affidavit, Maw said he found his wife with black eyes and blood on her nose. The couple had been the only two people in the home.
Maw had “significant bruising on the back of his right hand and the top of his right foot,” the affidavit stated. “He had several other small injuries on his forearms and chest, and what he described as a bite injury on his left thumb.”
Police were called to the home on May 1 when neighbors reported the couple yelling and fighting, the affidavit stated. No one was arrested.
Prosecutors describe the murder case as a domestic violence incident.
