DENVER — A 20-year-old woman was killed when unknown suspects hurled a large rock at her car and it crashed through the windshield, hitting her. This happened during an overnight crime spree where assailants also threw rocks into at least four other vehicles.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies and investigators from Boulder, Arvada and Westminster on Thursday appealed for public help finding a light-colored pickup truck or SUV.
In the moments before the victim, Alexa Bartell of Arvada, was killed around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday night, she was on her phone talking with a friend, Jefferson County authorities said in a news release. Then, the phone went silent. Bartell’s friend tracked her phone and drove to the location on Indiana Street where Bartell lay fatally wounded inside her yellow Chevy Spark, authorities said.
Police investigators presented a timeline list of the rock-throwing crimes they knew about as of noon Thursday:
—10:04 p.m. – Westminster – 100th Avenue and Simms Street – rock thrown through the windshield – driver not injured
—10:36 p.m. – Boulder County – McCaslin Boulevard and Indiana Street — rock thrown through the windshield – minor injuries to the driver
—10:37 p.m. – Boulder County – McCaslin Boulevard and Indiana Street — rock thrown at Toyota 4Runner – damaged vehicle, driver not injured
—10:45 p.m. – Jefferson County – 10600 block of Indiana Street – rock crashed through the windshield of yellow Chevy Spark – homicide
—12:24 a.m. (April 20) – Arvada – Highway 93 and Highway 72 – rock thrown through the windshield – minor injuries to the driver.
“We believe there may be more victims,” the authorities announced in their news release. “No piece of information is insignificant. If you have home security or dash cameras that may have caught the vehicle driving by, we want to hear from you.”