Officials are trying to determine what happened to an Aurora man who went missing Thursday while driving home from a business meeting in Salt Lake City, only to be found in his submerged sport utility vehicle in Clear Creek nearly 48 hours later.
Danny Eugene Sheya, 65, was pronounced dead at St. Anthony Hospital on Saturday afternoon after the Ford Escape he was driving was spotted by hikers in the creek near Golden.
It’s not clear if Sheya was still alive when he was pulled from the vehicle.
The Jefferson County coroner will have to determine time and manner of death, authorities said.
Rhonda Sheya said her brother-in-law was diabetic and had heart issues, but she doesn’t know if that contributed to his death.
Eagle County sheriff’s Deputy Matt Westenfelder on Sunday said that his department received a missing persons report about Sheya late last week.
Westenfelder said family members got a call from Sheya on Thursday telling them he was traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 and was about 30 miles west of Vail. He told them he expected to arrive in the Denver metro area by 11 p.m. but never showed up.
Rhonda Sheya said family members launched their own search for her brother-in-law’s car, using spotlights to peer down into ravines and drop-offs on the sides of I-70 and U.S. 6.
“We were hoping, but in our hearts we knew there was a really bad problem,” she said.
The Colorado State Patrol said Sunday the rental vehicle apparently went out of control and veered down an embankment, rolling once and coming to rest on its wheels near mile marker 278.
Golden and Arvada fire departments dispatched water rescue teams, who donned cold-water suits to pull Sheya from the vehicle.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abuvthefold
