2 elderly people, including former state senator and judge, found dead inside Denver home

DENVER – Two people were found dead inside a home in southwest Denver Monday afternoon as authorities investigated a gas leak, and family members have identified one of them as a former state senator and judge.

The two people’s bodies were found inside a home in the 4700 block of West Yale Avenue around 3 p.m.

A spokesperson with the Denver Fire Department told Denver7 the two elderly people were already dead when they were discovered, and that companies were at the home Monday afternoon investigating possible carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Denver Fire spokesperson said the carbon monoxide levels inside the home were “fairly high,” and said there was no one else in the home when first responders arrived.

Xcel “Emergency Gas Response” is now here. Neighbor says the elderly couple that lived next door were each in their 90s pic.twitter.com/9lqHzuyrpb

— Jason Gruenauer (@JGonTV) September 18, 2017

Later Monday, family members confirmed to Denver7 that the victims are Roger Cisneros, 93, and his wife, Adelia Cisneros, 89.

Roger Cisneros was a former state senator, the founder of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and a former District Judge.

He retired in 1989, but then started his own private practice, and has been honored by several Hispanic and Latino law organizations over the years.

Cisneros was born in Questa, New Mexico and attended the Menaul School in Albuquerque before enlisting in the Army Air Corp, where he served from 1943 to 1946.