A Brighton man is accused of shooting and killing a pregnant woman, abandoning her body in a truck and stealing another car before opening fire on police officers and leading them on a high-speed chase, according to court records.
, 50, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, nine counts of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, felony menacing, motor vehicle theft and other charges in a string of crimes across Brighton that ended when he surrendered after being shot by police on Thursday afternoon.
Brighton Police Department officers started investigating the case at 11 a.m. Thursday after a man at a gas station on East Bromley Lane called 911 because someone tried to steal his car at gunpoint.
The man wrestled with the suspect, later identified as Benavidez, before Benavidez fired a gun, narrowly missing the man’s head. Benavidez fled on his bike when the gun jammed, investigators wrote in an affidavit.
A second woman called 911 at 12:30 p.m. Thursday after her ex-boyfriend, Benavidez, stole her car while she was inside a dispensary in the 100 block of West Bridge Street. He was inside her house when she came home from lunch and asked her for a joint, the woman told police.
Officers tracked Benavidez to the 10700 block of Brighton Road, but when they tried to pull him over he started shooting through his rear window, hitting a Brighton police cruiser five times before fleeing. The officer inside the vehicle returned fire.
During the 11-minute chase, Benavidez continued shooting at Commerce City and Brighton police officers while driving at speeds over 100 mph and attempting to hit two officers with the stolen car. One other officer shot at Benavidez during the chase.
He eventually surrendered by getting out of his car and laying down in the road. Benavidez was taken to the hospital with two gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and upper back and was then booked into the Adams County Detention Center, according to an arrest affidavit.
Less than 24 hours later, a Brighton police officer responded to an abandoned Chevrolet Silverado 2500 in the 200 block of North Sixth Avenue and found a woman dead with gunshot wounds in the passenger side of the truck.
Police identified her as Keeley Koff, 32, when her mother called 911 on Friday morning to report her missing after seeing the news about Benavidez’s arrest. Koff’s mother said her daughter had been with Benavidez earlier in the week.
Witnesses also connected Benavidez to the Silverado — which was reported stolen out of Thornton two months earlier — and told police he had been living in the truck with Koff. She was 14 weeks pregnant, investigators wrote in the affidavit.
Benavidez then asked to speak with detectives on Saturday morning after spontaneously telling a jail deputy he had killed his wife.
Benavidez told Brighton detectives he had PTSD and schizophrenia and had been “losing his mind” when he shot Koff while they were driving on Riverdale Road. Benavidez also described Koff as his fiancee and said he believed he was the father of her unborn child, according to the affidavit.
Benavidez said voices in his head influenced him, but he could not remember what they said, just that they were “inside laughing at him.” He offered to show police where her body was “so we can give her family peace.”
After learning that Koff had been found, he refused to answer other questions, investigators wrote.
Surveillance video confirmed Benavidez abandoned the truck on North Sixth Avenue at around 2 a.m. Thursday.
Benavidez is in custody at the Adams County Detention Center on a $100,000 bail and set to appear in court Monday for a filing of charges hearing, court records show.
