DENVER (TCN) — Police recently arrested a 44-year-old professor who reportedly called 911 and said he found his wife on the ground bleeding and their infant daughter not breathing.
On the morning of July 29, the Denver Police Department responded to Nicholas Myklebust’s call on North Syracuse Street. Officers found Myklebusts’ wife with apparent blunt force injuries, and she was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.
Police also found the child, who KUSA-TV reports was 2 months old. Officers said the baby was deceased but didn’t have any visible injuries.
Authorities transported Myklebust for a police interview. Detectives reportedly observed bruises and blood on Myklebust’s knuckles, as well as scratches to his neck.
According to an affidavit reviewed by KUSA, Myklebust told officials that while he was asleep his wife “must have fallen off the step ladder in the bedroom.” However, police noted that the victim “sustained injuries that were inconsistent with a fall.”
Myklebust reportedly explained to police that his scratches were due to psoriasis, and he usually scratches himself while sleeping.
Officers arrested Mkylebust on a count of first-degree murder in connection with his wife’s death.
Myklebust appeared in court on Tuesday, July 30, for a bond hearing. In court, a prosecutor said the couple’s first child died at 9 days old in 2021 due to a “cranial fracture,” KUSA reports. No charges were filed in the incident.
A judge set Myklebust’s bond at $5 million.
The office of the medical examiner will perform an autopsy on Myklebust’s wife and the baby. Pending further investigation, the Denver District Attorney’s Office will determine formal charges.
According to Regis University’s website, Myklebust is listed as an associate professor of English. Myklebust is described as a “linguist and interloper in the literatures of post-classical and medieval cultures who reconstructs prior visions of the world and the texts through which past civilizations rose to consciousness of themselves.”
In a statement obtained by KUSA, Regis University said, “Regis University is deeply saddened to learn that a member of our faculty, Nicholas Myklebust, has been charged with a serious crime. This news is profoundly distressing for our entire community.”
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