American Elm to reopen for Mother’s Day weekend after double homicide shook community
Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette
American Elm, the Denver West Highland neighborhood restaurant where two employees were killed in late April, will re-open for Mother’s Day weekend and then temporarily close again.
The restaurant will be open from 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and then open for brunch at 10 a.m. Sunday and offer dinner service into the evening, according to a news release.
“Thank you to our community for showing such unbelievable support during this difficult time,” the restaurant said on its website. “We look forward to hosting you once again.”
For Mother’s Day, Chef Daniel Mangin and the team curated a to-go brunch offering for $98 with a deadline to order noon Thursday.
American Elm will then be closed Monday, May 15 until Wednesday, May 17. Starting Thursday, May 18, the restaurant will fully re-open for service seven days a week for happy hour, dinner and weekend brunch, according to the release.
Hours of operation will be Monday through Thursday from 4-10 p.m., Friday from 4-11 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The restaurant’s closure follows the shooting murders of general manager Emerall Vaughn-Dahler, 34, and prep cook Ignacio “Nacho” Gutierrez-Morales, 58, inside the business on April 24.
Vaughn-Dahler suffered from multiple gunshot wounds, the Denver medical examiner’s office said, ruling the death as a homicide.
Morales also suffered from a single gunshot wound, the examiner’s office said, also ruling the death as a homicide.
The Denver Police Department has not released any updated information about the double homicide case as of Tuesday afternoon.
DPD denied the Denver Gazette’s request for recordings and transcripts of 911 calls from the incident and all calls for service to the address since Jan. 1, replying with the following statement:
“This department and the public share an interest in maintaining the integrity of this open homicide investigation, therefore your records request is respectfully denied because we believe it would be contrary to the public interest to provide records from the ongoing investigation.”




