Ricky Roybal-Smith, 38, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree murder and DUI in the Denver case, a deal that dismissed the original first-degree murder charge, according to court records. Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen sentenced Roybal-Smith to 56 years in prison during the disposition hearing, which will run concurrently with his other prison sentence, court records show.

“In just over two days in metro Denver, Ricky Roybal-Smith murdered three men in cold blood,” . “Today’s sentence, alongside severe sentences in Adams County, ensures that Roybal-Smith will spend the rest of his life in prison, which is where he belongs given his horrific and senseless crimes.”

Roybal-Smith strangled his cellmate, Vincent Chacon, in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center after being arrested in connection with a hit-and-run on June 30, 2025, police said. He was already in custody there when Aurora police linked him to the two fatal stabbings that happened on June 29, 2025.

The Aurora victims, 27‑year‑old Jesse Shafer and 61‑year‑old Scott Davenport, were both found dead with dozens of stab wounds, police said.

Roybal-Smith took a deal and pleaded guilty in March to two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbings, which dropped two charges of first-degree murder from his case, according to court records. Adams County District Court Judge Brett Martin sentenced Roybal-Smith to 40 years in prison for each of the men’s deaths, court records show.

Aurora police responded to the complex in the 14000 block of East Stanford Circle at 3:30 p.m. after receiving a call from Aurora Mental Health about a man experiencing a mental health crisis, Chief Todd Chamberlain said in a briefing Thursday evening.

A mental health clinician responded to the scene alongside police and talked with the man by phone. The man was threatening to kill himself and others and wanted to kill or be killed by police officers, Chamberlain said.

The man refused to continue talking with the crisis response team after about 25 minutes. When the clinician tried to talk to him through a window, the man was seen holding a large butcher knife to his neck.

A group of officers was staged nearby when the man suddenly burst out of the apartment, charged one of the officers and repeatedly stabbed him in the head with the butcher knife, Chamberlain said.

The stabbing was so forceful that the tip of the knife broke off inside the officer’s head, Chamberlain said, but the officer was able to fire his gun and shoot the man during the attack.

Other officers on scene tried to use less-lethal force, including a Taser, to stop the man as the stabbing unfolded in a matter of seconds, the chief said.

Paramedics took the officer to a hospital, where he was in surgery Thursday evening. The knife-wielding man was taken to a hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead.

The man killed will be identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.

The injured officer joined the Aurora Police Department in 2002, according to a news release from the department. He is also a canine handler and has been assigned to the department’s police dog unit since 2012. His dog sustained minor injuries in the Thursday incident but is expected to recover.

“I thank God that our officer is not dead,” Chamberlain said. “I thank God that our officer is in surgery, and I’m so thankful that he survived this.”

The man had a history of mental health issues, including suicidal ideation, and it appears police had responded to that address at least one time before Thursday, Chamberlain said.

“The Aurora Police Department, our patrol assets, our clinicians and our crisis response team did everything we could possibly do to resolve this without the incredibly tragic conclusion,” Chamberlain said.

The 18th Judicial Critical Incident Response Team is leading the investigation into the police shooting. The Aurora Police Department will also conduct an administrative review of the incident.

Thornton officers responded to a “bleeding and unresponsive” man at an , 8700 Grant St., just before 11 p.m. on March 25, according to an arrest affidavit. The parking lot was empty when officers arrived, aside from the injured man, but several people were spotted walking on a nearby bridge that connected the east and west RTD parking lots, the affidavit stated.

Paramedics took the man, identified in the affidavit as 29-year-old Stephen Rivas, to the hospital, where he died from a stab wound to the neck, police said. His brother, 25-year-old Zamien Rivas, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in his death, Adams County court records show.

The woman who called 911 told investigators that she heard the two brothers arguing in the parking lot about Stephen Rivas claiming to be a Crips gang member, according to the affidavit.

She called the police when she saw the older brother collapsed on the ground, but didn’t see what caused his injury, police said.

One man said he saw a man he believed to be Zamien Rivas collapse over Stephen Rivas’ body in the parking lot after the fight, yelling “no Stevie” and “don’t die Stevie,” the affidavit stated. Zamien Rivas and an unidentified girl ran from the parking lot to the RTD bus terminal when they heard police sirens, leaving Stephen’s body behind, the man told police.

The witness and his girlfriend ended up on the same bus as the couple who ran and overheard their conversation, according to the affidavit.

Zamien Rivas was crying and kept saying “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this,” the girlfriend told police. She said she saw Zamien throw a knife during his fight with Stephen, which he picked up before fleeing the scene, the affidavit stated.

Zamien Rivas was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and will next appear in court on May 14, according to court records. He is being held at the Adams County Sheriff’s Detention Facility without bail, .

Thornton Police Department officers responded to a 911 call about a person bleeding near East 88th Avenue and Grant Street just before 11 p.m. on March 25. The 29-year-old man was taken to the hospital and later died, and investigators determined he was injured in a stabbing, agency officials said Friday.

Zamien Rivas was arrested Thursday and booked into the Adams County Jail, according to the department.

This is a developing story.

Ricky Roybal‑Smith, 38, was accused last summer of murder in three separate deaths. One victim was Roybal-Smith’s strangled cellmate in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center — where he was being held on suspicion of careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident — and two others who were stabbed to death in northwest Aurora, police said.

Roybal‑Smith was arrested in Denver for the hit-and-run on June 30, 2025, and Aurora police later linked him to two stabbings that happened on June 29, 2025.

The man took a deal and pleaded guilty to two charges of second-degree murder in the Aurora stabbings, which dropped two counts of first-degree murder, according to Adams County court records.

Adams County District Court Judge Brett Martin sentenced Roybal-Smith to 40 years in prison for each of the men’s deaths during a Monday morning arraignment hearing, court records show. The victims, 27‑year‑old Jesse Shafer and 61‑year‑old Scott Davenport, were both found dead with dozens of stab wounds on June 29, 2025.

Police used surveillance footage and witness interviews to piece together the timeline and identify Roybal‑Smith as the suspect who attacked and killed both men before fleeing the area, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He was already in custody at Denver’s Downtown Detention Center when Aurora police sent out a “be on the lookout alert” to other law enforcement agencies.

Investigators first connected the two stabbings because they were similar and happened near each other on the same morning, Aurora police said. Both victims were homeless at the time of their deaths, police said.

“These were horrific, senseless murders and the defendant will now spend the rest of his life behind bars,” 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason said in a statement. “Jesse Shafer and Scott Davenport were killed in acts of extreme violence carried out within a short time of each other. Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for the lives he took and for the fear and trauma he inflicted on our community.”

Roybal-Smith is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court on April 9 for a disposition hearing in the case of his cellmate’s death. The man alerted jail deputies that his cellmate, 35-year-old Vincent Chacon, was choking and needed help in the early morning of June 30, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Chacon died before paramedics arrived, and detectives found marks on the inmate’s neck that indicated it was more likely he had been strangled to death than that he choked to death on food.

Roybal-Smith previously pleaded guilty to vehicular assault charges in 2016 after leading Littleton police on a high-speed chase that ended with the man crashing into a parked SUV, according to previous reporting. Royal-Smith was sentenced to 12 years in prison for seriously injuring a person and avoiding arrest, but was released on parole in 2022.

He was arrested while still on parole for swinging a filet knife at a fellow customer in a Walmart store in Englewood and sentenced to four years in prison for felony menacing, police said. Roybal-Smith was released early on parole in January 2025.

Callum Heskett pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, and false reporting of an emergency, a misdemeanor, according to a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The plea deal dropped additional charges of attempting to influence a public servant, tampering with evidence, reckless endangerment, obstructing government operations and official misconduct from his case, according to Jefferson County court records.

Heskett was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay more than $16,000 in restitution, according to the district attorney’s office. That amount, which may be updated in the coming days, accounts for the costs incurred by all the agencies that responded to his fake distress call.

The former park ranger’s misdemeanor conviction is permanent, but he was granted a deferred sentence on his felony charge, court records show. If Heskett fulfills the terms of his probation, that charge will be removed from his record.

However, if Heskett violates the probation agreement, he will be sentenced to the Colorado Department of Corrections for a period of between two and six years.

The investigating officers’ main concern when considering a plea deal was ensuring that Heskett would not be allowed to work as law enforcement again, Deputy District Attorney Michael Rex said during the Monday morning hearing, according to the news release.

The stabbing hoax convictions will revoke Heskett’s POST certification and bar any future recertification, according to the district attorney’s office.

Heskett radioed for help inside Staunton State Park at about 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 19, claiming he had been attacked and stabbed by a stranger who fled the scene. The state park was shut down, all visitors were evacuated and a shelter-in-place order was issued for roughly 8,600 nearby residents as law enforcement agencies searched for the fictional suspect.

Two days later, authorities confirmed the attack was an “elaborate hoax.” The former Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger had researched abdominal injuries, including how deep arteries are and the abdomen’s anatomy, in the days leading up to the fabricated attack, according to his arrest affidavit.

Heskett, who authorities said stabbed himself with his own pocket knife, was , according to the agency.

Heskett “was in a position of authority and trust” and “abused that authority” by making a false report that triggered a substantial law enforcement response, Deputy District Attorney Rex said during the hearing.

“Innocent third parties were inconvenienced and investigated as possible assailants, and likely numerous police reports went unresponded to as critical assets were deployed,” Rex said. He called the conduct “utterly incompatible with the responsibility, trust and duty charged of a law enforcement officer.”

Heskett was hired as a park ranger in March 2025 and assigned to Staunton State Park in May. He became a ranger after washing out of training at the Lafayette Police Department.

He resigned when faced with termination from the police department after receiving a multitude of poor evaluations during his sole month of training, including low scores in nearly 90% of the training evaluation categories, according to his personnel file.

Heskett failed to demonstrate “sufficient proficiency in critical areas needed to be a police officer,” Lafayette Police Chief Rick Bashor wrote in Heskett¶¶Ňőap termination letter. The letter was rescinded when Heskett elected to resign in lieu of termination on July 3, 2024.

Elijah Caudill, 25, is mentally incompetent to proceed, Judge Karen Brody ruled during a brief hearing Friday. The criminal case against Caudill will be put on hold while he undergoes treatment aimed at restoring him to competency at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo.

Caudill is accused of stabbing four strangers along the 16th Street mall on Jan. 11 and 12, 2025, in four separate attacks: three back-to-back stabbings in the span of 42 minutes on Jan. 11, and then a fourth attack on Jan. 12.

Two people, 71-year-old Celinda LevnoĚý˛ą˛Ô»ĺ 34-year-old Nicholas Burkett, were killed. Two additional victims were wounded but survived.

Prosecutors with the Denver District Attorney’s Office did not challenge the finding that Caudill was incompetent to proceed. He will undergo 91 days of treatment before returning to court for an update on May 1.

16th Street Mall stabbing suspect¶¶Ňőap path marked by mental illness, homelessness, drug use

Caudill's arrest in the 16th Street mall stabbings came after years of homelessness, illegal drug use, escalating violence, jail, prison and severe mental illness, a Denver Post investigation found. He said he heard voices in his head that told him to "do bad things," and was connected to resources and help several times before the fatal attacks.

In court Friday, a handcuffed Caudill swayed on his feet and fidgeted during the hearing, swinging his head.

°Őłó±đĚýcompetency process is designed to protect the constitutional rights of people who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled by ensuring they are not prosecuted for crimes when they are too sick or too disabled to understand the court process and to help defend themselves.

A competency evaluation centers on two prongs: whether defendants have a factual and rational understanding of the court proceedings, and whether defendants can consult with their attorneys and assist in their own defense. Defendants who cannot meet those thresholds are considered mentally incompetent to proceed and must undergo treatment to be restored to competency before their criminal cases can proceed.

Defendants who ultimately cannot be restored to competency cannot be prosecuted, and they cannot be held in jail. Such defendants must be released or civilly committed.

"We are in a hold mode, we have a mental health stay in the case, I think we need to just see what happens with the treatment," Brody said in court Friday.

The restoration process can take months or years, and can stall cases indefinitely.

The attacker in the 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood mass shooting was found incompetent to proceed for a decade, and was never convicted in the attack. He died in a medical center for federal prisoners in November.

Denver police officers responded to the stabbing at Gate B14 inside the bus terminal at 1700 Wewatta St. just before 10 p.m. Sunday, according to an arrest affidavit.

Witnesses told officers that the suspect, 37-year-old Nakila Green, was pacing around the station before she sat down next to a random woman on a bench and stabbed her, police wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Green allegedly stabbed the woman several times in the leg and chest. The victim screamed for help, and Regional Transportation District officers rushed over to hold Green at gunpoint and subdue her, according to the affidavit.

The victim, who is expected to survive, told investigators that Green didn’t say anything to her during the incident and that she had never met her before, police said in the affidavit.

Green spat on police officers while being arrested, and continuously spat inside a patrol car while in custody, according to the document.

As of Monday afternoon, Green was being held on suspicion of first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon, according to .

indicated officers were investigating additional charges of second-degree assault and second-degree assault to a peace officer in a separate case.

With the 2026 legislative session beginning, issues around competency and mental health, economic vitality, and protecting voter-allocated funding remain the most important concerns facing our cities.

Competency Reform and Mental Health

We support Polis in his strong commitment to make Colorado one of the safest states in the nation. At the same time, cities across Colorado continue to face challenges when people accused of crimes do not receive the sustained care and treatment they need.

Under current law, individuals who are clearly in need of treatment may be released back into the community without appropriate placement, supervision, or ongoing care. Changes enacted in 2024 under House Bill 1034 require courts to dismiss charges when a defendant is found incompetent and unlikely to be restored, while limiting prosecutors’ ability to seek additional evaluations. In practice, this can result in individuals who pose ongoing public-safety risks cycling back onto the streets.

Earlier this year, two innocent people were stabbed to death on 16th Street in Denver by an individual who had previously been deemed incompetent and released — one tragic example highlighting gaps in the current system.

We believe mental health care and rehabilitation are essential to addressing crime, but they must be paired with appropriate placement and accountability to protect public safety.

We support the governor’s efforts to reform competency laws to expand alternative placement options, provide judges and district attorneys’ greater flexibility, and to increase investment in the Colorado Department of Human Services to build a continuum of secure, therapeutic treatment options. These reforms are critical to ensuring individuals receive appropriate care while preventing future tragedies.

Address AI Legislation Complications

In 2024, the legislature passed Senate Bill 205, creating significant uncertainty for Colorado’s economy and local governments. During the 2025 special session, implementation was delayed to June 30, 2026, with support from business and community organizations and leaders across the state; however, a durable solution is still needed.

Without reform, the law risks slowing innovation and investment, driving jobs out of Colorado, and imposing millions of dollars in implementation costs at a time of serious budget constraints.

We support a collaborative legislative solution in the 2026 session that protects consumers while promoting innovation, clearly defines state and local responsibilities, reduces uncertainty for employers and investors, avoids unfunded mandates, establishes clear and reasonable liability standards, and aligns Colorado with emerging national trends.

Support Local Businesses with Reasonable Crime Reform

In a troubling trend, recently intensified by the Supreme Court¶¶Ňőap decisions in People v. Camp (Westminster)Ěý˛ą˛Ô»ĺ People v. Simons, state law has increasingly constrained the ability of local law enforcement to meaningfully hold to account criminals who harm business owners and their ability to support themselves.

As municipalities face further restrictions on their authority to detain, hold, or sentence shoplifters and repeat offenders, the burden of these policies falls squarely on small and locally owned businesses.

We therefore urge state legislators to lower the felony shoplifting threshold to a reasonable dollar amount that reflects the real and cumulative harm of retail theft. Small businesses cannot continue to absorb losses under a weak statutory framework that allows individuals to steal repeatedly while facing few consequences.

Protect Voter-Allocated Funding

We look forward to collaborating with the governor and General Assembly to ensure our communities continue to receive voter-allocated funding for affordable housing programs and address public safety issues – specifically Proposition 123 and Proposition 130.

Proposition 123 dedicates state tax revenue surplus to permanently fund affordable housing initiatives, while Proposition 130 requires the state to provide $350 million in additional funding to local law enforcement agencies.

Cities must retain the ability to implement solutions that are responsive to individual community concerns with the allocations approved by the voters for their intended use.

We ask that legislature to refrain from redistributing funding that has been approved through the ballot for specific community purposes. It is only through continued cooperation between the community, local governments, and the state that we will sustain and build upon the progress already achieved in these areas.

Mike Johnston is the mayor of Denver. Yemi Mobolade is the mayor of Colorado Springs, and Mike Coffman is the mayor of Aurora.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

, 47, was found with stab wounds in a parking lot in the 1500 block of Glenarm Place on Aug. 9, 2024. He was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Jason Schadegg, 49, was arrested the same day and charged with first-degree murder and vehicular eluding in the case.

He was on both charges by a Denver jury on Friday, according to court records.

He was sentenced to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for a first-degree murder conviction under state law.

Schadegg was represented by the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender, which does not comment on criminal cases.