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Witness says teen whooped when thrown rock hit woman’s car

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 22:14:58 +0000

Left: Alexa Bartell (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department). Right: Joseph Koenig (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department).

The scene inside a Colorado courtroom looked a grim picture of human action on Friday as a young and condemned man testified to his onetime best friend’s alleged glee in violence.

Joseph Edwin Koenig, 20, was a high school senior, but 18 years old, when he and two friends were charged with “extreme indifference” murder over the April 19, 2023, death of Alexa Bartell, 20.

On the day in question, the windshield of the victim’s Chevy Spark was struck and smashed by what authorities termed a “large landscaping rock.” The impact sent the young woman’s car careening “off the roadway” on a remote stretch of road in Jefferson County.

Bartell died a horrible death in the ensuing crash; prosecutors previously testified the victim’s brain was found in her backseat.

“There was biological matter on the roadway,” a deputy sheriff who led the murder probe testified during a hearing in October 2023.

In May 2024, two codefendants in the case, Nicholas “Mitch” James Karol-Chik, and Zachary Kwak, pleaded guilty to lesser crimes, and substantially lesser crimes, respectively. They both agreed to testify against Koenig during his jury trial in Jefferson County District Court.

Each of the codefendants, to varying degrees, played instrumental parts in the rock-throwing that night. But Karol-Chik was admittedly more culpable than Kwak, having also taken part in additional such attacks in February 2023 and even days before in early April 2023.

On Friday, Karol-Chik told jurors Koenig let out an excited whoop as he saw Bartell’s compact car drive off Indiana Street and through a fence in a field near the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, according to a courtroom report by the Denver Post.

“He was excited,” the witness told the jury, referring to the defendant. “He would just look at us with this big smile on his face.”

On that fateful night, several landscaping rocks were thrown at other cars, both in motion and parked. But some claimed details are mixed.

Kwak maintains he did not throw any of the rocks at all that night, according to the Post. Instead, Kwak earlier testified he only collected the rocks from multiple parking lots and then handed them over to the two front-seat passengers, who threw them.

The speedometer in the teenagers’ vehicle was 103 mph just before the 9.3-pound rock was thrown that took Bartell’s life, Kwak also previously testified. Karol-Chik, however, said the car was doing 80 mph. Both men said Koenig sped up before the final, fatal attack.

Karol-Chik went on to say the celebratory whooping and smiles were in line with how the trio had generally acted over the thrown rocks that night; when a rock struck a car, they would express delight; when a rock missed a car, they would express disappointment.

“We only thought of them as cars,” the witness continued. “But we never thought of who may be driving them.”

Each of the defendants was initially charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault in the second degree, and attempted second-degree assault. Kwak took a plea deal on three assault charges: one count of first-degree assault on Bartell and two counts of second-degree assault for attacks on three other victims. Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder.

Even with plea deals, Karol-Chik and Kwak face decades behind bars; they are slated to be sentenced on May 1 and May 2, respectively.

Koenig, for his part, has conceded some responsibility. His lawyers insist he should only be convicted of manslaughter because none of the rock-throwers had the intent to kill, or even harm, anyone else.

The defense is also hinging some hopes on long-inconsistent statements from Karol-Chik, who for several months told prosecutors that Kwak was the one who threw the rock that killed Bartell.

Only during a fourth and final proffer interview — an interview in service of a plea deal — did Karol-Chik finally tell investigators Koenig was the person responsible for the woman’s death.

At the time, he and Koenig were best friends and “almost close enough to be brothers,” Karol-Chik reportedly told the jury. The lies came during three out of four proffer interviews, because Koenig and Karol-Chik agreed to pin the crime on Kwak, who they barely knew, during a discussion after seeing emergency vehicles later that night.

“We went over everything that happened and it was at that time that Joe said to me that we wouldn’t have to worry about it, we’ll just say that Zach did it,” Karol-Chik testified on Friday.

On cross-examination, however, Karol-Chik also said he long believed Kwak had actually thrown the rock, according to the Post.

The witness testified he remembered remarking on the sheer size of the rock, recalling he told Kwak it was too big to throw and being rebuffed. Karol-Chik went on to say he remembered Kwak saying he would throw the rock if Karol-Chik would not.

Then, the state worked to clean things up a bit.

“Was the truth that Joseph Koenig threw the rock that killed Alexa Bartell?” a prosecutor asked on redirect.

Karol-Chik replied in the affirmative.

This coming week, jurors will decide who and what to believe. Closing arguments are scheduled to end by April 21.

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Matt Naham contributed to this report.

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Woman’s text named man now accused of her murder: Police

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:58:03 +0000

Inset: Rashard Mack (Baltimore Detention Center). Background: The apartment complex where Mack allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend (WBAL).

A 23-year-old man in Maryland has been arrested for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend, fatally stabbing her at a residence in Baltimore over the weekend just a day after she texted friends that he left her in fear for her life.

Rashard Mack was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Taejhiana Walker, authorities announced. According to a news release from the Baltimore Police Department, officers at about 1 p.m. on Saturday responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at a residence located in the 8300 block on Nunley Drive regarding a reported domestic disturbance.

After arriving at the scene, first responders said they entered the residence and located two adults — one of whom was later identified as Walker — suffering from what appeared to be stab wounds. Walker was pronounced dead at the scene while the other victim — who police identified as Mack — was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Upon Mack’s release from the hospital, detectives placed him under arrest and charged him with Walker’s murder.

Court documents obtained by Baltimore NBC affiliate WBAL provided additional details about the circumstances of Walker’s death.

According to the report, when police first reached the residence, Mack was found “seated in the living room of the apartment in a metal folding chair. A broken knife blade with blood on it was observed on the floor next to him.”

Initially, Mack reportedly told police that Walker was his girlfriend and that she tried to kill him, claiming she “was swinging a knife” at him, so he “grabbed her hand and tried to stop her.”

“[T]he victim retrieved a kitchen knife from her nightstand and stabbed him in the abdomen,” police reportedly wrote in a probable cause affidavit transcribing Mack’s version of events. “He grabbed the knife while it was in her hand and broke the blade off as he attempted to keep her from stabbing him. He then wrestled her onto the bed and then to the floor, and stated the victim picked up the knife blade and stabbed him in the leg. Mack then stated he grabbed a pair of scissors and had to stab her a few more times.”

However, after a preliminary investigation, authorities say evidence led them to believe that Mack attacked Walker while she was on the bed and that his own wounds were self-inflicted.

Police spoke to Walker’s roommate, who told them Walker and Mack met through Instagram in the summer of 2024 and the two started dating, Baltimore ABC affiliate WMAR reported. But earlier this year, Walker stopped taking Mack’s calls. Mack grew more frustrated, and reportedly even began calling Walker’s roommates to reach her.

The day before Walker was fatally stabbed, Mack allegedly waited inside her car for hours to speak to her. Later that night, she reportedly sent a family member an ominous text message:

“If I end up dead, his name is Rashard Mack,” the message reportedly read.

Mack is currently being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center without bond.

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Teen ‘stomped’ on older woman’s head in fatal assault: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 09:15:11 +0000

Background: The location where Antonio Gueits allegedly fatally assaulted a woman before robbing her of her purse (Google Maps). Inset: Antonio Gueits (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office).

A Florida teenager has been charged with murder after the “severely injured” victim of an alleged Christmastime robbery and assault died in the hospital.

Antonio Gueits, 18, is facing a felony murder charge for the death of Cerida Charon, 65. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2024, Gueits attacked Charon in an incident that was captured by a surveillance camera.

Gueits “approached the victim and struck her in the face, causing her to collapse,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “While she laid unconscious, he repeatedly stomped on her head, inflicting severe injuries, including multiple broken bones and a brain bleed. After stealing her purse, he fled the scene.”

Deputies were called to the scene shortly before 7 a.m., the sheriff’s office said.

“Upon arrival, deputies found a severely injured woman who had been brutally attacked and robbed,” the statement added.

Detectives identified Gueits later that day and took him into custody “without incident,” according to the statement.

A motion to keep Gueits behind bars pending trial describes what allegedly happened starting at around 3:56 a.m. that day.

“[V]ideo surveillance captured[] the elderly victim, being approached by the defendant while she was sitting on a bench inside the University Community Park,” the motion says. “Several seconds later, the victim stands up from the bench and cowers away from the defendant, at which time, the defendant punches the victim on the right side of her face causing her to fall to the ground. The defendant then delivers a kick to the victim causing her to fall over and then begins to stomp and kick the victim repeatedly, causing her to sustain several broken bones to her face and a brain bleed.”

As Charon lay unconscious, Gueits is allegedly seen rummaging through her belongings before taking her purse and fleeing the scene.

“Several minutes later the defendant returns to where the victim was laying and grabs her upper body and throws her back to the ground,” the statement says. “The defendant then grabs her legs and drags her a short distance away from where she laid unconscious. The defendant takes the victim’s shopping cart, which was parked next to the bench, and rolls it over to the unconscious victim. He then turns the cart on its side and places it next to the victim’s body and kicks the victim again, then flees the scene.”

After he was taken into custody by detectives, Gueits allegedly admitted to the assault.

“Post-Miranda, the defendant admitted to the offense, identified himself as the person in the surveillance video and said that during the heat of the moment it felt good while he was hitting her (victim) because it felt good to get his anger out.”

After she was taken to the hospital, Charon was able to respond to detectives’ interview questions. She indicated that she “had no memory of the incident,” the filing says. Charon was pronounced dead on March 16 and prosecutors soon after added the murder charge for Gueits.

The prosecution’s motion for detention says that Gueits’ criminal history includes convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon, battery and theft.

According to court records, Gueits has a hearing scheduled for March 27.

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