DENVER (KDVR) — A decades-old cold case remains unsolved in Denver and Thursday marked the anniversary of the brutal murder that happened 39 years ago. Answers to the death of 61-year-old Hope Waddell remain a mystery and her family is desperately searching for information.
On Feb. 3, 1983, a burned body was found on South Jason Street near a dumpster. Due to the manner of death, the body could not be identified. Dani Lawrence was just 9 years old when her grandmother disappeared.
“We spent a lot of time looking,” Lawrence said. “There were several attempts made by multiple family members to find a death certificate or some other information about her whereabouts.”
After 36 years there were no cracks in the case, until 2019. Denver Police used DNA comparison and genealogy information to identify the burned body as Hope Waddell.
“It was jarring,” Lawrence said as she reacted to the news. “It was very jarring and awful for my mother.”
Lawrence told FOX31 that since learning of her grandmother’s murder, she has been pushing for answers from Denver Police. She said in the beginning, she was communicating with detectives but hit a wall once the George Floyd protests erupted and COVID-19 started.
“They withdrew their investigator and told us that someone was no longer assigned to the case. That was last February,” Lawrence said. “We would like to be able to sit with the Denver Police Department and have those conversations. They told us they wouldn’t meet with us because of COVID protocol.”
Lawrence and her family have taken matters into their own hands and created a website for people to share tips or information about Waddell and her death. She adds that through her own investigation, things don’t quite add up.
“There were some things that seemed strange to us,” Lawrence said. “Her autopsy report is dated two years after she died. The artist rendering of her face and what they put out as their Jane Doe identification information — that artist rendering was 18 months after her death and by that point she’d already been buried and dead in the ground for a long time.”
Thursday’s anniversary of Waddell’s death comes on the heels of last week’s announcement from Denver Police that the department, in conjunction with other authorities, identified a serial killer responsible for four Denver murders gone cold.
“I felt deeply for those families,” Lawrence told FOX31. “Like our family, those are people who waited 40 years to get some resolution. I wish we had that day. I hope someday we have that day.”
She seeks closure as they fight for answers, but for now, Lawrence and her family hold onto the memories of Waddell, adding that she’ll always remember her grandmother’s cookies and mac and cheese.
“I feel forgotten. My mother feels forgotten. We’ve kind of been alone,” Lawrence said.
FOX31 checked in with DPD who said Waddell’s case is still active, but there are no new updates. However, Waddell’s family shared that they want DPD to close the case so they can have access to all the case information.
On top of that, Waddell’s family said they can’t exhume her body because of the way she was buried. Lawrence said she was stacked in a paupers’ grave and to exhume her body they must have permission from the families of those on top of her, but those people have not been identified.
If you have any information in the death of Hope Waddell, call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers or Denver Police.