Wheat Ridge police have arrested two teenagers in connection with the stabbing death of the wife of a federal prosecutor from western Missouri.
One of the teenagers, Taylor Marquez, 16, is the son of Pamela Marquez, who was found stabbed to death in her Grain Valley home Saturday.
The two were arrested without incident at 11 a.m. at a restaurant at the Rodeway Inn and Suites in Wheat Ridge after they were recognized across the street at a truck stop, said Lisa Stigall, Wheat Ridge police spokeswoman.
A bystander from Arvada, who often drinks coffee at the truck stop at Interstate-70 and Ward Road, spoke with the teens about cars on Monday evening, Stigall said. The boys asked the man for a ride, but he declined, she said.
The man recognized their pictures in a newspaper article he was reading Tuesday morning while at the same truck stop, Stigall said.
While he was reading the article he saw the boys walking towards the Rodeway Inn, she said. He called police and the arrest was made.
“He felt like this is the right thing to do,” Stigall said.
The boys are being held at the Mont View Youth Service Center pending extradition to Missouri, Stigall said.
In the knife attack, the woman’s husband, Joseph Marquez, suffered a cut to his face. He is an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Missouri and a former Jackson County assistant prosecutor. The couple’s other son, a 5-year-old, was not injured.
On Sunday, a Burlington, Colo. convenience store clerk overheard two teens saying they were heading to Denver, authorities said. Burlington Police Chief Randy Millburn said it was likely they were picked up by another driver.
Police also found an abandoned car Monday they believe was stolen after Marquez was killed. The black 2001 Chevrolet Impala with Missouri license plates was found about five miles west of the Kansas line on Interstate 70, Colorado State Patrol spokesman Eric Wynn said.
He added that both the teens were believed to be armed.
Pamela Marquez worked in the Blue Springs school district for nine years in a before- and after-school program for elementary students, school officials said. For the last four years, she coordinated the program at Thomas Ultican Elementary School, said district spokeswoman Leslie Evans, where she was well-liked by her co-workers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
