Widefield – A Fort Carson soldier in the process of being medically discharged because of injuries suffered in Iraq faces a first-degree murder charge in what authorities say was a botched drug deal.
Anthony Marquez III, 22, was being held Monday without bond on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree murder during a robbery in the slaying of Johnathan Henry Smith, 19, of Widefield, according to El Paso County sheriff’s deputies.
Smith was shot once in the chest Sunday evening while selling marijuana in the basement of a house he shared with his grandfather, deputies said. Smith, Marquez and two others were in a basement bedroom during the drug deal when Marquez tried to rob Smith.
“He handed over the drugs, but not the cash,” said Law Enforcement Bureau chief Joe Breister, who oversees the investigations unit. “He had in excess of $600 on him.”
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Marquez at his girlfriend’s house about 8 a.m. Monday. Marquez joined the Army in May 2003, arriving at Fort Carson last summer, Army officials said.
Details of his injury sustained in Iraq were not released.
