A man who fatally stabbed a 22-year-old victim, stuffed the body into a tote bag, and left it in Clear Creek County has been sentenced to 38 years in prison.
Tyler Condit, 33, was sentenced on Wednesday in Jefferson County District Court for the murder of Joseph Elsey, according to a district attorney’s office news release. On May 5, Condit was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder, tampering with a body, and two counts of tampering with physical evidence.
On Aug. 29, 2020, police responded to an apartment in Arvada after a friend of Elsey reported that the victim had not been seen, or heard from, in about a week, a DA’s office news release said. Police entered the apartment and found blood stains and signs of an attempted cleanup. Blood samples collected were determined to be Elsey’s blood. The victim’s vehicle was found in Denver and smelled of bleach.
“Investigators learned that Elsey lived at the apartment and that Condit had recently moved in,” the release said.
On Sept. 1, 2020, Arvada police arrested Condit. On Sept. 6, 2020, Elsey’s body was discovered in Clear Creek County just off of Interstate 70.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony that Elsey had been “stabbed in the neck and that other injuries to his body indicated defensive wounds,” the release said.
Condit, who testified at the trial, maintained that during an argument Elsey threatened him with a knife and was ultimately struck by his own knife and died. The jury rejected Condit’s testimony and returned the second-degree murder conviction.
