Man’s body found in rubble of building

Emergency workers searching for a missing addiction counselor on Monday found the body of a man in the rubble of an Arvada building gutted by fire on Saturday, police said.

John Rutter, 55, a counselor who worked for Creative Treatment Options, was last seen in the building, which housed the nonprofit substance abuse clinic and also medical offices.

Arvada police and firefighters searched for him on Sunday and continued the search Monday with dogs and heavy equipment.

“We have witnesses who can put his last known location at the office complex,” said Jill McGranahan, an Arvada police spokeswoman.

The body was found after 3 p.m., as a fire department technical rescue team and others sifted through the wreckage of the three-story office building. The body has not yet been identified.

“We did indeed recover a body from the building,” McGranahan said.

Emergency workers brought in heavy equipment and shored up an interior wall, allowing dogs to help in the search process, said Deanna Harrington, an Arvada Fire Protection District spokeswoman.

“The dogs did their work,” Harrington said.

The fire at the Scenic Heights Professional Building, at 6475 Wadsworth Blvd., began Saturday morning and took firefighters five hours to extinguish.

Creative Treatment Options announced on Facebook on Sunday that all clients of the business got out safely, but Rutter was still missing. On Monday evening, the clinic said on Facebook that it had received confirmation that the man found was Rutter.

“He brought profound wisdom into our lives and a genuine spirit of giving,” the Facebook post stated.

One civilian and one firefighter were also injured in the blaze. The firefighter is home and recovering, Harrington said. Fire investigators have not yet determined the cause of the blaze, she said.