Palm Springs police arrest man suspected in Denver slayings

Palm Springs police have arrested a man known as “Ms. Puppy”  who is a person of interest in a highly publicized double killing in Denver.

Daryl L. Rasmussen, 55, was taken into custody Monday at the Score Bar in Palm Springs after a patron called police saying that he recognized Rasmussen from television news reports about the Denver slayings and that he was in the bar, according to a statement released by the Palm Springs Police Department.
Responding officers took Rasmussen into custody after he allegedly  provided them with another person’s drivers license.

Denver police started searching for Rasmussen after two men -- Ronald Thomas Ford, 63, and Ramiro “Rome” Sanchez, 55 -- were found beaten to death in their home. Police found Ford's body in the home on Feb. 11, and a week later found Sanchez’s in the basement, concealed by a stack of boxes. Both died of blunt-force trauma. According to the Denver Post, Ford and Sanchez were life and business partners.

Rasmussen, a reported cross-dresser who goes by the name “Ms. Puppy,” was living with the victims at the time of the murders, and Denver police consider him to be a person of interest in the case.
Rasmussen is wanted on a parole violation on a warrant issued out of Austin, Texas, and on  a counterfeiting charge in Savannah, Ga.

Rasmussen, described as 6 feet tall and 135 pounds, is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on fugitive warrants.

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-- Phil Willon

Photo: Daryl L. Rasmussen. Credit: Denver Police Department