| Broker Kills Partner
Roderick Bracken charged with murder December 27, 2005 By PATRICK CROWLEY |
| Something went terribly, fatally wrong for a pair longtime friends and mortgage brokerage partners from Colorado.Police in Aurora, Colo., a sprawling suburb of more than 300,000 outside of Denver, recently charged Roderick Deon Bracken, 36, in the death of his friend and business associate Alfonso Bernal, 34.
Bracken, the operator of a small mortgage brokerage in a building owned by Bernal, is in jail facing first-degree murder charges, Aurora Police spokesman Marcus Dudley said in an interview with MortgageDaily.com. “We have found sufficient evidence to charge (Bracken) with murder in the first degree for the death of Mr. Bernal,” Dudley said. “Both were involved in the mortgage business together. They were friends for a long time.” Authorities say Bracken and Bernal had done some real estate deals together and at one time worked in the restaurant business as well. Most recently Bracken was listed as an officer and registered agent of Cornerstone Mortgage Services, a fledgling, one-man mortgage brokerage that recently opened in Aurora. Bracken was apparently the lone employee of the company. MortgageDaily.com was unable to find a phone number or Internet Web site for Cornerstone Mortgage Services of Aurora. Bernal apparently owned the building where Cornerstone had set up offices, police say. A family member of Bernal told police the two men, while close for years, were recently estranged over personal and business dealings. Dudley said because the investigation is continuing he was unable to provide many details about the two men’s relationship. But Dudley did talk about the circumstances of Bernal’s bazaar death and how Bracken allegedly tried to cover his tracks. On Sept. 25 shortly after 5 a.m, an off duty police officer came across a car that was on fire. After the flames were doused, Bernal’s body was found in the trunk of the car, which had been driven into a ditch behind an Aurora shopping center. In a disturbing twist Bracken was arrested two days later and charged with arson after police say he set himself on fire. “We have reason to believe he intentionally set himself on fire,” Dudley said. Bracken and Bernal became friends as teenagers, Dudley said. |
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Patrick Crowley is a MortgageDaily.com feature journalist and blogger, and a reporter, blogger and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. e-mail Patrick at: [email protected] |
