Dead Man Found in Denver Hotel with Large Amount of Possible Cyanide

Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 4:57:45 pm PDT

A troubling development in Denver: Man Dead, Large Amount Of Possible Cyanide Found.

DENVER (CBS4) — It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide.

Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.

A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man’s room on the fourth floor of The Burnsley hotel at 10th and Grant. Tests are now being done by the Denver Police Crime Lab to determine exactly what the substance is. The tests could take days.

It’s believed Dirie died from something other than the substance that was in the container.

(Hat tip: Seafood Gumbo.)