Police in Colorado have arrested three high schoolers who are accused of hurling a landscaping rock at a woman’s car, killing her as she drove by them.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office shared in a statement that Alexa Bartell, 20, “was killed when a rock was thrown through her windshield as she was driving” by the teens at about 10:45 p.m. on April 19.
The statement said that Bartell’s car was the last of several to be “struck by large landscaping rocks in a spree that began shortly after” 10 p.m.
Jacki Kelley, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told reporters that tips from the public and cellphone data helped investigators identify and inevitably arrest the suspects.
“This case touched a lot of people deeply,” Kelley said. “This was a beautiful young woman with her whole life in front of her who was simply driving home, and her life was ended as a result of these acts. It was shocking to a community, and people wanted to find out who was involved.”
The 18-year-olds allegedly responsible for Bartell’s death, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig, and Zachary Kwak, were arrested at their homes in Arvada late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
The three teens are seniors at Jefferson County Public Schools, Kelly said.
After making the arrests, Kelley shared that investigators with the sheriff’s office called Bartell’s family in the middle of the night to notify them.
“They’re just grateful,” Kelley said. “They’re still suffering the greatest loss possible.”
Kelley spoke with NBC News about the case on Wednesday, sharing that officials were able to determine the rock is what killed Bartell as she was driving, not the crash that followed it striking her car.
“The rock came through Alexa Bartell’s windshield, striking and killing her,” Kelley told the media outlet.
Kelley shared that the “large boulder landscaping rocks” were approximately 4 to 6 inches and 3 to 5 pounds. The 18-year-olds are believed to have been throwing the rocks at cars coming in the opposite direction as them, but investigators are not sure who was driving and who threw the rock that killed Bartell.
The teens have been booked on suspicion of first-degree murder by extreme indifference, the sheriff’s office shared.
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