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Killer of mountain biking pioneer Mike Rust sentenced to life in prison

Charles Moises Gonzales burglarized Rust’s Saguache County home, shot him in the head

Kirk Mitchell of The Denver Post.
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Charles Moises Gonzales, 47, who killed a man who had been inducted to the , has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison, court records indicate.

Gonzales, 47, burglarized the home of , and on March 31, 2009.

Gonzales was convicted Thursday of first degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering or destroying evidence, burglary and theft following a plea deal with the Pueblo District Attorney’s Office.

Gonzales, who had a skull tattoo necklace and also went by the alias “Shari Jean Towner,” buried Rust’s body. Rust’s remains were discovered Jan. 8, 2016 in Saguache County between Colorado 17 and U.S. 285.

Rust’s brother, Carl, identified the remains based on a unique bicycle-sprocket belt buckle found with the body. The bones were found only 5-miles east of his brother’s home.

“You could see this place from Mike’s house,” Carl Rust said at the time.

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