Musician Jennifer Gelvin Rouse Among 2 Dead in Stabbing

One of the two women killed in a Sept. 29 stabbing in Denver was Jennifer Gelvin Rouse, 49, a popular local musician whose husband died of a heart attack just weeks earlier. The other victim was Katherine Pivoda, 33, an English instructor at the University of Colorado. The suspect in the case is Matthew Madden, 36, Pivoda’s estranged husband. Madden was taken into custody after police responded to a reported domestic violence incident at 12:10 a.m. on Sept. 29, the Denver Police Department said in a statement to the Denver Post. Madden is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder.

According to the probable cause statement after Madden’s arrest, the responding police officer found Madden holding a knife and appearing “bloody,” reports the Post. He refused to drop the weapon, and the officers used a Taser to shock him. He was taken to Denver Health Medical Center to be treated for self-inflicted wounds, police said. Both women were found dead at the scene, and two children were sleeping at the home.

Rouse and her husband, trumpeter Keith Rouse, were members of the Denver disco band the Fabulous Boogienauts. Keith died of a heart attack on Sept. 6. They leave behind two teenage children, Jada, 17, and Jaz, 14. They are living with an aunt and uncle in Windsor, Colorado. “They were great parents. They cared about whatever their kids were going through at school, or whatever was going on in their kids’ lives,” Steve Illich, a friend of the couple, told the Denver Post on Oct. 1. “They lived up to their name — fabulous — they had an incredible following.”

The Rouses’ friends set up a GoFundMe page to help support their children, raising over $99,000. “These two kiddos are going to need all the support we can provide in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Not only emotionally, but also financially,” the fundraiser organizer wrote. Another GoFundMe published after Keith’s death has raised over $20,000 to help their family.

Rouse was also a popular teacher at the School of Rock Denver, owner and general manager Jim Johnson told 9News on Oct. 2. “She was really really good at working with a lot of our younger students and helping them just kind of find their voice,” Johnson said, adding that Rouse’s children also attended the school. She would often attend shows, even if her children were not involved, Johnson said. “It’s been amazing to see the Denver music community and their friends and family step up and do that,” he added.

Pivoda taught three classes at CU Denver and was a Ph.D. student. She also had two young children, and a GoFundMe page was set up to help them as well. “She was pretty great, she has this vivacious spirit,” Scott McLeod, Pivoda’s doctoral advisor, told the Post. “Every single time I talked with her, she had an enormous smile on her face. She laughed a lot.”