DENVER — A 22-year-old woman was arrested Friday in Logan County after a 54-year-old man was found stabbed to death in his Denver apartment last weekend.
Erin Liljander was picked up in the northeast Colorado county and is being held on first-degree murder charges in connection with the stabbing death of Patrick Lane, who police believe was deceased several days before his body was discovered.
Lane was found dead in a pool of blood in his apartment after sustaining at least 27 stab wounds to the back of his body, according to an arrest affidavit released in the case.
A postmortem exam of the victim revealed Lane had stab wounds on the back of his head, the left side of his neck, arm, torso and upper leg, according to the document.
The 54-year-old victim lived in a unit at the Renaissance Riverfront Lofts, located at 3440 Park Avenue West in Denver. Based on security camera footage, police believe Lane was killed sometime after 10:52 a.m. on Wednesday, March 22.
His body wasn’t discovered until Sunday, March 26, when a friend of Lane discovered the victim, according to the document. The friend said he had known Lane for the past two years and “often uses drugs with the victim,” the affidavit said.
Police were notified of the discovery on Tuesday, March 28, when the victim’s friend flagged down an officer who was in an unmarked car parked in the area of the Renaissance Lofts, the documents said.
Security camera footage also played a key role in identifying the suspect. According to the affidavit, video captured Liljander entering the victim’s apartment on March 22 and then leaving the scene “moving quickly.”
On Friday, investigators received an anonymous tip from someone who identified the suspect. The person told police that Liljander lived in a homeless encampment in the city’s Globeville neighborhood and she had returned to the camp “wearing bloody clothing and she got rid of those clothes,” the affidavit said.
After police received the tipster’s information, they discovered the suspect was already in custody in Logan County. It’s unclear on what charges the suspect was being held on in that jurisdiction.
A motive in the case is not known. Denver police interviewed Liljander about the homicide after her arrest but the transcript of the interrogation was redacted in the documents.
