The man suspected of killing a fellow inmate in Denver’s jail early Monday is now accused of two fatal stabbings in Aurora the day before.
Ricky Roybal-Smith, 38, of Aurora, faces first-degree murder charges in each of the three separate homicides, according to Aurora and Denver police.
Roybal-Smith was being held in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center for investigation of first-degree murder in the Monday morning strangling death of his cellmate, Vincent Chacon, when Aurora detectives obtained a warrant connecting him to two fatal stabbings in northwest Aurora.
In the Denver case, Roybal-Smith alerted a deputy around 2 a.m. Monday that his cellmate Chacon, 35, was choking on an apple and needed help, according to a statement of probable cause filed with Denver District Court.
The deputy found Chacon lying unresponsive on the lower bunk bed with a blanket up to his neck and began CPR. When paramedics arrived, they couldn’t revive him.
Two Denver police detectives came to the jail to investigate Chacon’s death, and one of them found red marks on his neck and discoloration of his eyes, which the detective considered more aligned with manual strangulation rather than choking on food.
Officers transported Roybal-Smith for an interview at the homicide unit, where he invoked his right to remain silent, according to court records.
In the Aurora case, detectives previously had connected the two stabbings because they were similar and happened close to each other on the same morning. Both victims were homeless at the time of their deaths.
Police discovered the first man in the 1500 block of Moline Street about 1:45 a.m. Sunday and found the other man near a bus stop on Peoria Street south of East Colfax Avenue about 6:30 that morning.
The detectives obtained a warrant to arrest Roybal-Smith on first-degree murder charges, according to a news release, but did not say how they linked him to the stabbings. The warrant for his arrest was not available Thursday evening.
Roybal-Smith was initially being held in the Denver jail on charges of careless driving that injured two pedestrians at Galapago Street and North Ninth Avenue, and then leaving the scene of that crash, and of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
He is also suspected of being involved in a second crash at westbound Interstate 70 and North Lowell Boulevard.
Roybal-Smith previously pleaded guilty to vehicular assault charges in 2016 related to a high-speed chase with Littleton police in December 2015 that ended in a crash into a parked SUV at South Santa Fe Drive and West Oxford Avenue. Royal-Smith received a 12-year prison sentence for seriously injuring a person and avoiding arrest.
He qualified for an early release under Colorado law and was out on parole in 2022 after serving only half of his prison sentence. While on parole, he was arrested on felony menacing charges after swinging a filet knife at a fellow customer in a Walmart store in Englewood.
Roybal-Smith received a four-year sentence in that menacing case, but was released early on parole in January.
He is expected to be transferred to Adams County and booked on the new first-degree murder charges, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Aurora Police Department, but he was still in Denver’s detention center as of 4:20 p.m. Thursday.
Aurora police are offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information related to the homicide cases via Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
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