3 arrested in rock-throwing homicide, killing Alexa Bartell in west metro Denver

Jefferson County Sheriff’s investigators have arrested three 18-year-old suspects from Arvada in the rock-throwing death of 20-year-old Alexa Bartell.

The investigators made the arrests during the night at Arvada homes and officials early Wednesday announced they’d taken the three into custody. Officials identified the suspects as Joseph Koenig, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, and Zachary Kwak. In a news release, officials said the three will face charges of first-degree murder with extreme indifference.

All three are suspected of throwing rocks, and additional charges are expected to be filed, pending determinations by the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, authorities said.

A suspect vehicle has been identified — a black 2016 Chevy Silverado, authorities said. It remains unclear who was driving during a rock-throwing spree last week, authorities said.

Bartell was killed when a rock was thrown through her windshield as she was driving northbound in the 10600 block of Indiana Street at about 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19. Her yellow Chevy Spark was hit by “large landscaping rocks,” authorities said, in a spree that began shortly after 10 p.m. that night in Westminster.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s investigators have been working with Westminster Police, Arvada Police, and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to identify and arrest the suspects. The investigators said “mobile device forensics” and information from the public helped identify and find the suspects.

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