A Greeley man gunned down in front of his home last week may have been killed for his $110,000 life-insurance policy, payable to his ex-wife.
Cecil Erb, 27, and Justin Brunner, 27, have been arrested in the killing. Erb is the boyfriend of Watson’s former wife, Georgia Watson, and the two have lived together.
“She is apparently the sole beneficiary, but at this point, we haven’t connected her to the crime,” said Greeley police spokesman Joe Tymkowych.
She couldn’t be reached for comment today.
Watson, 44, a truck mechanic and driver, was shot in his pickup truck as he prepared to leave for work at about 5:20 a.m. in the 600 block of 46th Avenue Court.
Police believe Erb was the shooter and that Brunner helped to plan the crime.
Only days before the shooting, a neighbor contacted police about a strange car and driver that she had seen on the block. The woman wrote down the license-plate number and gave it to police.
They traced the car to Brunner and found that Erb had been with him when he was stopped for a traffic infraction earlier.
Brunner allegedly accompanied Erb on several earlier attempts to kill Watson, Tymkowych said, but they called off the attacks because other people would have witnessed them.
Brunner wasn’t on the scene when Watson was shot. Police don’t know whether anyone else accompanied Erb to the shooting scene.
Erb was arrested Friday night in Iowa after Greeley police alerted authorities in that state and others to watch for him. They found an SKS assault rifle, similar to the one used to kill Watson, and ammunition in his car.
Greeley police arrested Brunner after he voluntarily submitted to an interview by detectives.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
