National Football League

Broncos fan who disappeared during game found safe

Published Oct. 28, 2014 3:11 a.m. ET

foxsports

DENVER (AP) A Denver Broncos fan who disappeared during last week's game has been found safe, police said Tuesday.

Denver Police Sgt. Steve Warneke said Paul Kitterman, 53, was found Tuesday night in Pueblo, about 100 miles south of Denver. Warneke did not have any information about Kitterman's disappearance, but he said no criminal charges are expected.

''All we were trying to do was make sure he was unharmed, and he was,'' Warneke said. ''So at that point, we're finished.''

Police referred all other questions to Kitterman's family. The man's stepson, Jarod Tonneson, did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on his cellphone Tuesday night.

Family and friends of Kitterman had been searching for him since Thursday night's game against the San Diego Chargers at Sports Authority Field.

Tonneson told investigators his stepfather had not been seen since he left his seat to meet friends during halftime. Tonneson filed a missing persons report with Denver police, scoured the sprawling stadium, called local hospitals and detox centers, and taped fliers around the city.

The two went to the game with two of their friends after a day spent working and hunting at another friend's ranch in Kremmling, a small town in the mountains of northern Colorado.

Kitterman and Tonneson, both construction workers, hurriedly made the 100-mile trip to the stadium after a friend offered tickets. It was Kitterman's first time there, and in his haste, he forgot his cellphone and took no credit cards and very little cash.

Kitterman had four or five beers in the course of a four-hour span - not enough to become disoriented, said Tonneson, who noted that his stepfather did not have any known health or personal problems.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report