No arrests, no suspects, no known motive 2 years after double murder at Denver restaurant

Two years after the double murder of a restaurant general manager and prep cook preparing for the day on a quiet Monday in the West Highlands, there are no arrests and no suspects. Not even a known motive.

"It's a roller coaster. You know you get your hopes up and you get them crushed and start all over again," said Danica Woolard, who describes herself as a sister to victim Emerall Vaughn-Dahler. 

Vaughn-Dahler and Woolard were as close as sisters working together at a bar in downtown Denver when they met. They became close, and Vaughn-Dahler, who was estranged from her family, would often stay at Woolard's house with her young son. Soon, the family invited her to move in, and she was absorbed into the family.

"You would think, given everything she'd gone through, that she wouldn't have been as genuine and amazing of a person as she was. But she was," said Woolard. "The world is a whole lot darker without her in it for sure."

Ignacio Gutierrez-Morales worked hard and had children and grandchildren he left when he was killed. He was not the kind of person who would engage in any kind of conflict, explained his son-in-law Miguel Lopez.

"If somebody offended him, he would never say anything back to anyone. And that hurts."

Late on a Monday morning on April 24, 2023, someone–or even more than one person–came into the American Elm restaurant on West 38th Avenue in West Highlands and shot Vaughn-Dahler twice and Gutierrez Morales once. There were few, if any, camera images, and there is still no firm timeline of when the shooting happened. Police have said the shooting happened between 10 a.m. and noon.

In a statement, Denver Police Department spokesman Douglas Schepman said, "Despite the extensive investigation into these homicides, which is ongoing, we have not yet identified suspect(s) or a motive." 

Police have not said whether anything was stolen. Investigators continue to ask for assistance through tips. There remains a substantial reward of $32,600 through Denver Crime Stoppers in the case, where people sharing tips can remain anonymous.

It has left the families mourning their losses, wondering why the two were shot. Lopez says information from the police has turned off. They have attempted to contact investigators, but in the past year, none have been returned. 

"We never got any response from them," said Lopez. 

One family member living in Colorado has moved to New Jersey to join the rest of the family, partly out of fear of crime.

Woolard says the whole family has had difficulty in dealing with the loss, including Vaughn-Dahler's husband and her child, who was 12 years old at the time of her killing.

"I was talking to my parents, and I'm like, if this is hard for us. Imagine how it is for him. It's got to be a hundred-fold."

For Woolard, she has come to fear some public places.

"The loud bangs... that gets me. I don't like going to the store alone." She has her husband go with her.

Unsolved after two years, the toll on the families is hard.

"This thing hurts a lot," said Miguel Lopez. "Maybe that way somebody will come out and say something."

The reward for information was raised mostly through family efforts. It remains unclaimed.

"We don't want it back, we want it to go to somebody who helps us," said Woolard.