DENVER -- Police said a 19-year-old woman who bought a car at auction will get her $400 back after police reclaimed the vehicle that was still evidence in a murder case.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass was mistakenly released by the Denver sheriff's department and sold at auction Nov. 12. The sheriff's department said police didn't put a hold on a car.

Vanessa Burdiaga said she bought the baby blue car with a flat rear tire, evidence stickers and bullet holes as a fixer upper.

Her uncle, Miguel Cerceda, said inside the car they found two bloodstained bandannas, two long pieces of metal pipe, gloves and an empty alcohol bottle. Cerceda said detectives who reclaimed the vehicle also recovered those items that had been thrown away.

Burdiaga said she thoroughly cleaned the car before it was taken back by police, so she's not sure how much fingerprint evidence they may find in the car.

Jackson said the vehicle and other items remain in evidence but declined to discuss its value or details of the case. The Denver district attorney's office referred calls to police.

The car may be releated to a confrontation between people in two cars at East 51st Avenue and Peoria Street on Sept 26. One man was shot and killed while sitting in a car that morning.