Arrest is made after body found at motel

Eric Leake

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

After a couple spent most of Monday in a motel apartment in the company of a corpse, Metro Police arrested another man in connection with the victim's murder.

Daniel Patrick Shammot, 35, was taken into custody late Monday night at the Town & Country Manor, an extended-stay motel at 4311 Boulder Highway near Lamb Boulevard.

He is suspected of killing a man in his early 40s who was found in a room at the motel. The homicide was apparently drug-related, Homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said.

It's not clear why the couple who were staying in the room where the body was found didn't call police, or why they went about their business with the dead man in the room.

"A lot of people have that same question," Hefner said. "I can't offer an explanation as to why they would stay in an apartment knowing there's a dead body inside."

He did not say how the man is thought to have died, but added, "It's clearly homicide."

Someone called police about 2:30 p.m. and said there had been a rumor that a homicide victim was in a room at the motel.

Patrol officers went to the address and spoke to the woman renting the room. They noticed a strong smell of bleach wafting out of the apartment and called homicide detectives, who found the body.

Police arrested Shammot, who was staying in another room at the motel, and charged him with murder with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon.

The coroner's office did not release the man's name this morning. Police believe he died Monday morning.

Police are continuing their investigation. Hefner said the couple staying in the room has been cooperating with police, but he did not say who they are, what relation they may have had to the man's death, or why they seem to have done nothing about it.