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Bus passenger provides no clues

  

Basalt police located a bus passenger who exited a bus at the same time as a man who later was found dead, but the other passenger didn’t offer any information that was helpful to the investigation, according to Basalt Police Chief Greg Knott.

Police said Daniel Perez Mejia and another man got off the downvalley bus in Basalt late the night of Saturday, May 25, or early on Sunday, May 26. They were uncertain if they were traveling together or just getting off the bus at the same place, Knott said.

Police used images from a surveillance camera on the bus to identity the other passenger. Knott said officers knocked on doors until they learned who he was and where he lives. The man told officers he didn’t know Mejia, according to Knott. Officers have no reason to doubt his story, the police chief said.



There are no other leads to establish where Mejia was between his exit from the bus and when his body was found at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, May 27. He was partially clothed in the Williams 2 irrigation ditch east of Big O Tires in Basalt, according to authorities. Some of his belongings were found across West Cody Lane from the ditch.

Knott said there are no other leads right now to help police account for the hours after Mejia was last seen. Mejia, 36, lived in Carbondale. It’s unknown why he got off the bus in Basalt.



The results of a toxicology report on Mejia aren’t available yet, authorities said.


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