In the autumn of 1894, a sense of unease settled over Denver's Market Street. Marie Contassot, a French immigrant known for her wealth, was found lifeless in her bed on the morning of October 28th. She had been strangled with a cord, the marks on her neck a grim testament to her violent end. The discovery was made by Tony Sanders, the man with whom she lived and was described as her lover.
He claimed to have fallen asleep while reading the previous night and awoke to the horrific scene.
The initial investigation by police pointed towards robbery as the motive. Despite her reputation for being a person of means, only a meager 25 cents was found in her possession at the time of her death. This led authorities to believe that her assailant had taken her fortune. The community was left shaken by the brutal killing, which was not an isolated incident. The deaths of two other women, Lena Tapper and Kiku Oyama, by strangulation in the same area around the same time suggested a darker pattern emerging in the city.
A potential breakthrough in the case came from a drunken confession. A man named Victor Manchenaint, in his inebriation, implicated another man, Alphonse Le Mair, in the murders of Marie and the other women. Manchenaint alleged that robbery was the driving force behind all three killings. However, despite this lead, Alphonse Le Mair was never convicted for the crimes. The murders of Marie Contassot, Lena Tapper, and Kiku Oyama officially remain unsolved, casting a long shadow over Denver's history. Marie Contassot was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery in Denver.
