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Two deaths reported in Basalt

Aspen Times Staff Report
Aspen CO, Colorado

BASALT ” A Basalt woman was found dead in her home Thursday and, in an unrelated incident, a Basalt man died from suicide Friday, authorities said.

Marcia Fisher, 55, was found dead by police in her residence at 700 E. Sopris Drive, according to Basalt Police Chief Keith Ikeda.

Fisher didn’t show up for work Thursday at the fixed base operation that serves private aircraft at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. “A friend called about 11:20 a.m.



(Thursday) and asked us to do a welfare check,” Ikeda said.

Police went to Fisher’s residence, one of three units in a single-family home. Her door was locked so they gained entry by removing a screen and opening a window. The officers found Fisher in her bed.




“There were no signs of foul play; no signs of forced entry,” Ikeda said. Her neighbors didn’t report any suspicious activity.

Eagle County Coroner Kara Bettis said an autopsy didn’t produce anything conclusive on the cause of death. A toxicology test may shed more light, she said.

In addition to her part-time job at the airport, Fisher was well known as a massage therapist at the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain during ski seasons, Ikeda said.

On Friday, authorities were called to a Basalt home on Sopris Circle at 11:10 a.m. for the report of a suicide. Attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful.

Bettis identified the victim as Steven Wellenet, 55. The cause of death was asphyxiation from hanging, she said.

Basalt police said Wellenet was a bookkeeper at The Little Nell Hotel.