Woman killed when rock crashes through car, CO cops say. Now three 18-year-olds arrested
She was young, beautiful, and had her whole life ahead of her. But it was cut short when she was driving home and a large rock crashed through her car’s windshield, cops say.
Alexa Bartell, 20, died when the landscaping rock struck her on April 19, Colorado authorities said. One week later, officials arrested three 18-year-old high school seniors they believe were behind not only Bartell’s death, but also six other rock-throwing crimes that night that injured drivers and damaged cars.
The three — Joseph Koenig, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, and Zachary Kwak — have been charged with first-degree murder with extreme indifference, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in an April 26 news release. Additional charges could be coming, officials said.
“To be clear about what extreme indifference is, it’s described as an attitude or behavior which exhibits indifference about what they’re doing,” spokesperson Jacki Kelly said during a news conference. “In this one, it’s in relation to respect for human life.”
Officials aren’t sure which of the trio drove the black 2016 Chevy Silverado as the others hurled large landscaping rocks into nearby cars. But they think they were all involved in the crime spree that killed Bartell.
“We’ve seen this in Colorado before, where rocks are thrown from overpasses or bridges,” Kelly said. “These suspects went from place to place throwing large rocks through windshields of moving vehicles. We have not seen that before.”
Authorities connected the 18-year-olds to the crimes using cell phone forensics out of cell towers, Kelly said.
They also received over 300 tips from the public, she said.
“This case touched a lot of people deeply,” Kelly said. “She was a beautiful young woman with her whole life in front of her who was simply driving home.”
Bartell was talking on the phone with a friend when the line suddenly went silent, McClatchy News reported.
Bartell’s friend tracked her phone and drove to the remote roadway between the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and the Great Western Reservoir in the Colorado Hills Open Space, where she found Bartell’s body inside the car in a field off the roadway.
The suspects are scheduled to appear in court April 27.
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