On the morning of August 15, 2015, Jose Frias-Olivas, a 61-year-old male, was taking a walk in Harvard Gulch Park in Denver, Colorado. He was in the city visiting family, having recently retired, and had left his daughter's home for what was a routine morning stroll. Tragically, in the broad daylight of mid-morning, he was shot and killed just feet from Federal Boulevard. Frias-Olivas was found unarmed and alone.
His wallet and phone were not taken, leaving the motive initially unclear.
The investigation into the homicide began immediately, but early leads were frustrating. A man who fled the scene in a car chase was initially thought to be a suspect but was later cleared. Witnesses reported hearing two to three gunshots and seeing several young men running from the area. One of the men was described as having a distinctive tattoo on his face, resembling the claw marks from a Monster energy drink logo. Despite this detail, the case went cold as witnesses were not forthcoming with information.
A significant break in the case came in September 2016 when DNA was recovered from the magazine of the murder weapon, a Ruger handgun that had been reported stolen and was found by Northglenn police. The DNA profile was matched to Nicholas Lujan, whose DNA was in the CODIS database. Lujan had been arrested on a robbery charge in October 2015, and detectives at that time had noted his distinctive facial tattoo. In 2017, an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers further implicated Lujan, with the caller reporting that Lujan had bragged about killing an old man on 'feds,' stating he had intended to rob him but decided to kill him instead.
Following years of extensive investigation based on this and other digital evidence, the Denver cold case team arrested Nicholas Lujan in 2021. In March 2023, Lujan pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder. On June 9, 2023, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder of Jose Frias-Olivas. The investigation revealed that Lujan and three others had approached Frias-Olivas in the park with the intention of robbing him. When Frias-Olivas tried to run, Lujan shot him in the back of the head.
