What started as a search for a missing woman has now become a murder investigation into the father of her child.
Police on Thursday arrested Adam Densmore on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Ashley Mead, the Boulder mother who was reported missing earlier this week and is now presumed dead.
Densmore, 32, already was in custody at the Pawnee County Jail in Oklahoma after being arrested Wednesday on suspicion of violating a custody agreement when he was found with the 1-year-old daughter he has with Mead.
Mead was not found with Densmore and her daughter, but human remains were discovered in a dumpster that same day not far from where Densmore was arrested. Boulder police spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly said the remains have not yet been identified as Mead’s, but said police are presuming she is dead.
Cordingly could not comment any further on the case because of the on-going investigation. The affidavit has also been sealed.
Mead, 25, was first reported missing in Boulder on Tuesday along with her daughter, Winter Daisy Mead.
On Wednesday, police in Oklahoma found Winter Mead with her father, Densmore, in Oklahoma outside of Tulsa, but Mead still was missing.
Boulder police on Wednesday said foul play was a “possibility” and, that same day, the Tulsa World newspaper reported that police in Okmulgee — about 40 miles south of Tulsa — discovered human remains that appeared to be female in a dumpster outside a Walmart.
Boulder County District Attorney and police officers investigated Mead’s apartment on Manhattan Drive in Boulder on Thursday afternoon.
While the remains have not yet been identified, Cordingly said the department sent two detectives to Oklahoma on Thursday morning to investigate and connect with local authorities.
The state medical office, which is handling the autopsy, said the remains have not yet been identified.
Densmore does not have a criminal record in Colorado. He is being held without bond while officials decided whether or not he will be extradited to Colorado.
One of Mead’s relatives, who asked not to be identified, said that Mead, who is originally from Pennsylvania, met Densmore in Louisiana and later followed him to Colorado.
She said that the two were not in a romantic relationship, but believes they lived together in an effort to provide a stable living environment for their daughter.
Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars
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