Denver's coroner says Fero's Bar & Grill owner Young Suk Fero, 63, is one of the five people found dead in the restaurant when a fire was reported there early Wednesday morning.
Autopsy results are pending, but the deaths of the five have been ruled homicides, the coroner said.
The other four people found in the building were Daria M. Pohl, 22, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 45, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver.
Tae Moon Park, Fero's brother, says police have told him his sister had been shot before the bar at 357 S. Colorado Blvd. was set on fire.
When Park and his wife showed up at Fero's, police drove them away. When they were returned to where their car was parked near the
bar, Park said he had been informed that his sister was indeed a victim.Park worked with his sister at the bar.
Denver Police Chief Robert White said the five bodies were found by firefighters responding to the blaze that was reported around 1:50 a.m.
"It appears there was some trauma to the bodies — it also appears to be an arson," White told reporters at a 5:30 a.m. briefing. He repeated that at a 2 p.m. briefing, saying police are investigating the incident as a "homicide-arson."
As reporters were briefed at the KFC across the street, blood staining the walk in front of Fero's was washed away.
In the morning briefing, White would not elaborate on the nature of the trauma, but Denver Police Major Crimes Unit commander Ron Saunier said he believes the victims did not perish in the fire and the blaze was set to mask the homicide.
"It's going to be a long, drawn-out investigation at this point," Saunier said.
Wednesday morning, friends and family of Young Suk Fero, 63, said her Volvo was still in the parking lot in front of the restaurant and feared she was one of the victims. Her car was towed from the strip center just south of East Alameda Avenue around 3 p.m.
White said Wednesday afternoon that official identification, manner and cause of death of the victims would all come through the coroner's office at a later time, after families have been officially notified.
He said no suspects had been identified and police knew of no problems at the bar Tuesday prior to the report of a fire.
Danny Duane Fero, 58, said he bought the bar in 1984 and his wife became sole owner when they separated in 1998. They never divorced.
Danny Fero, a retired federal worker from Aurora, said he awoke this morning and heard about the deaths while watching TV.
He did not know who may have been in the bar.
Acquaintances
Brian Smith, 28, director of marketing at a credit card company, said about six months ago after he gave Young Fero a $150 tip, she got his phone number from a friend and asked him if he wanted to buy the bar. He had been there a half dozen times.
"She was pretty desperate, too. It was in her tone of voice," Smith said. "She kept asking. I don't have enough money to buy a bar. I tip too much when I get drunk."
When Smith declined to buy the bar, Young Fero asked him if he could lend her some money. She said the bar was struggling financially. He had to turn her down.
"She was a very nice lady," he said.
Ricky Jackson of Denver worked as a part-time bartender at Fero's over the last couple months but said he recently stopped working because business was slow. He said the bar typically closed at 2 a.m. every night.
Danny Fero said his estranged wife had also told him her costs were rising and business was slow. The economy was bad, she told him.
Jerry TenBink, who worked at Fero's as a bouncer, agreed with that assessment. He said he had loaned Young Fero money more than once.
TenBink said the owner typically worked from the time the restaurant opened for breakfast until it closed around 2 a.m. Her younger brother, Tae Moon Park, worked there as a cook.
TenBink received a text message from a friend Wednesday morning saying that the sender hoped TenBink had not been at the bar.
"I had to come see it for myself," TenBink said, crying. "I just didn't believe it."
TenBink said Fero's had been a rowdy place, where bar fights were common. "She was trying to change that."
None of the businesses in the South Colorado Shops strip center — a liquor store, an optical shop, a check cashing business, a tailor and a nail salon — are open.
Fero's storefront is intact, although windows are charred and blinds are warped.
The small bar is sandwiched between a check-cashing business and Eric's Custom Tailors Alterations in a strip mall.
The front of the building advertises burgers, steaks and Italian cuisine. A life-sized poster of a woman in a bikini stands beside a giant bottle of Budweiser just right of the entrance.
All five victims were inside the restaurant when fire crews arrived, Saunier said. Their bodies were removed from the building as crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
A black Ford mustang and a blue Saturn sedan were towed from behind the restaurant about 10 a.m.
Police are asking anyone who may have been in the bar Tuesday night or Wednesday morning to come forward and speak with authorities.
White said Wednesday afternoon that some tips had come in, and he urged anyone with information — "no matter how trivial" — to contact authorities.
Chris Brady, 26, lives in an apartment behind what he calls "kind of a dive bar" and was there Tuesday night for free poker night.
He said the event involved only gifts and bar tabs — no money — and was a semi-regular occurrence at Fero's.
Brady said when he left the bar about 11 p.m. there were a dozen there people there, including Young Fero and a female postal worker he didn't know.
He said sometimes some "rough" people would come to the bar, but that on Tuesday night he didn't witness anything unusual.
He heard sirens in the night responding to the bar but assumed it was a kitchen fire.
Bar patron Michael Yazzie, 28, came to the scene around lunch time Wednesday with a single white rose.
He said Young Fero used to joke with him, asking why no one ever gave her flowers.
He left the rose as close as he could get, next to a trash bin behind the building.
Staff writer Jordan Steffen and photographer RJ Sangosti contributed to this report
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