Foul Play Not Suspected
Trevor Phipps
After the Teller County Sheriff’s Office shut down Hwy. 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek on March 2 for several hours, they released the identity of the body last week.
At first, the sheriff’s office was tightlipped and would not give any information on the situation as they said they were investigating the incident as a suspicious death.
But early last week, they confirmed in an official statement that the body found was that of Colorado Springs resident Eduardo “Lalo” Castaneda who went missing three days before his body was found that shut down the highway. Unfortunately, this was the news that the family and friends of Castaneda had expected.
According to a report on KRDO, the body was frozen due to the cold nights at high elevation and the autopsy couldn’t get completed until the following Monday. According to Castaneda’s family, he was reported missing on February 27 when he went with some friends to Cripple Creek and never came home.
His family said that his friends told them that he left the car in the Woodland Park area to use the restroom, and then he never returned to the vehicle. He went missing early in the morning (around 2 or 3 a.m.) on a Monday and his body was not found until Thursday. This led to the closure of Hwy. 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek for several hours, an incident that was reported on national networks. It also sparked a plethora of rumors and speculation, especially when it was initially announced that foul play may be involved.
Teller County has already faced its share of murder/suicides and serious crimes in the last few months.
The sheriff’s office released the name of the deceased man last week, but they would not give too many further details.
The coroner told KRDO that Castaneda died from a skull fracture between 1:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 27, and that foul play was not considered a factor in his death.