ROMEO — Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) homicide specialists spent Wednesday, April 18, at Romeo’s Little Market, a business that has been closed for some time, but would not reveal what had taken them to the long closed store.
A CBI agent said shortly before 6 p.m. that detailed information would be scanty, since it is a “very active investigation.”
He said Conejos County Sheriff Howard Galvez, Jr. and his staff did a “commendable job” on their end.
He would neither confirm nor deny statements by Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin that human remains had been found and it was definitely a homicide.
Martin said he didn’t closely examine the body so he didn’t have an estimate of how long the individual had been deceased.
The remains were taken to the El Paso County coroner’s office for an autopsy, slated for April 21.
Conejos County Sheriff Howard Galvez Jr. said the investigation began when information was received about a missing person, James H. “Jim” Sprouse, 77, who was last seen in June 2016 and reported missing by his sister on March 10, 2017.
Galvez said the initial investigation was regarding possible information as to Sprouse's whereabouts.
Community members say Sprouse and his wife once ran a store in the building and he had apparently been living in the back.
The doors of the building were sealed and a sheriff's vehicle and deputy were parked in front the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday.