CO - Man found dead
Smokie Darling (Annie)
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Authorities say a 23-year-old man whose body was
found in a stranger's front yard apparently died from a gunshot wound
in what they believe was a random attack.
A homeowner in the south Denver suburb of Centennial found Andrew
Graham's body Friday. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says
Graham was attacked on his walk Thursday night from a light-rail
station to his home.
Graham's satchel was found about three blocks away with his cell
phone, passport, cash and credit cards were in it.
Graham planned to start graduate work at the University of Colorado in
Boulder in January. Cyndi Graham said during a news conference Sunday
that she refused to let her son enlist in the Army, thinking she was
keeping him safe.
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20091108/NEWS/911089987/-1/RSS10
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Cyndi Graham's eyes are swollen from crying. She has numerous
questions but few answers about why her son, Andrew Gleston Graham,
was found dead early Friday on the front lawn of a home in
Centennial.
"Please, if they know anything, to let us know . . . anything," she
told The Denver Post on Saturday.
Graham's body was found in the 8700 block of East Phillips Place by a
homeowner who was awakened by his barking dogs. The man and his
daughter saw someone lying in the front yard, but his attempts to
awaken the young man were in vain. The homeowner then called the
Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
According to his family, Graham, 23, went to the Dry Creek light-rail
station at Interstate 25 about 4:30 p.m. Thursday and took the train
to Denver before catching an express bus to Boulder. There, he stopped
to check out a four-bedroom house he was going to rent with three
other men while attending graduate school starting in January. He
sealed the deal on the house and was planning on moving in this
weekend, his family said.
But nobody knows what happened to the 6-foot-1, 180-pound graduate of
the University of Colorado engineering school after that.
Graham did not own a car and preferred walking. He was familiar with
the neighborhood where his body was found, less than a mile from his
home, his family said.
Graham was born in Mississippi, but moved to Denver with his father,
John, mother and two sisters, Rebecca, 22, and Caryn, 33, in 1998. He
was a 2004 Cherry Creek High School graduate.
The Graham family wants people to know that their son wasn't just
another murder statistic. His father said Andrew enjoyed playing the
guitar and "tinkering" with the piano.
Rebecca described a typical older brother who enjoyed playing video
games with her.
"He was a good person and I loved him," his older sister, Caryn, said.
The Sheriff's Office said the investigation is ongoing and an autopsy
report is expected Monday. Anyone with information about Andrew
Graham's death is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 303-795-4711.