A former district court judge and state senator, and his wife, were found dead Monday in their longtime southwest Denver home, apparent victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The bodies of Roger Cisneros, 93, and his wife, Adelia, 89, were found inside their home in the 4700 block of West Yale Avenue.
The “deaths appear to be non-criminal in nature and possibly result of carbon monoxide poisoning,” police said on Twitter.
Roger Cisneros served as a Denver District Court judge and in the legislature as a state senator from Denver.
“It’s heartbreaking to learn of the tragic passing of Judge Roger Cisneros and his wife, Adelia,” Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release Monday night. “Judge Cisneros spent his career serving and working on behalf of the people of Denver and Colorado. He was a trailblazer who represented our city honorably in the state Senate, as a respected jurist on the Colorado Bench, and as a member of numerous community organizations.”
Born and raised in Questa, N.M., Roger Cisneros attended high school in Albuquerque, according to a La Voz newspaper article in 2008. Elected to the state Senate in 1964, he served 12 years in the legislature. In 1977, Gov. Richard Lamm appointed Cisneros to the district court.
Death Investigation UPDATE: 4700 block W. Yale. Deaths appear to be non-criminal in nature and possibly result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) September 18, 2017
In the early 1960s, Cisneros was among the founders of the Latin American Research and Service Agency, and he was instrumental in the development of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, the Latin American Educational Foundation and other Latino organizations.
In 2002, Cisneros was appointed by then Mayor Wellington Webb to oversee the audit of 3,400 Denver Police Department surveillance records of peaceful protesters and protesting groups known as the “spy files.”
“Judge Cisneros was a thoughtful and passionate voice for justice and empowerment for those who sought it, especially among Denver’s Latino community,” Hancock said. “Judge Cisneros and Adelia will be greatly missed, and they and their family are in the thoughts and prayers of everyone in our city.”
