BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — A jury convicted a Breckenridge man in the death of his former roommate and co-worker, the Office of the Fifth Judicial District said in a release Friday.
Miles Fernando Tovar, 40, was found guilty of reckless manslaughter and first-degree criminal trespass. The jury found him not guilty of first-degree burglary and another first-degree criminal trespass charge.
> Video above aired July 2022: Victim in deadly Breckenridge altercation identified
On Nov. 6, 2019, 29-year-old Brendan Rye was found unresponsive at the condo he lived in with Tovar and another co-worker, who called 911 to report Rye was "unconscious and not breathing," according to the release.
The three roommates were living in the condo temporarily while they renovated it as subcontractors, and the owner of the unit had invited them to dinner that night to thank them for their work. The release said Tovar got "heavily intoxicated" at the dinner, and the owner asked him to leave, but Tovar "kept returning to the owner's residence."
Rye stopped him and led him back to the condo several times, which resulted in a confrontation between the two of them — Tovar was shot in the leg once and Rye's death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation, according to the release.
"On November 6, 2019, Miles Tovar killed Brendan Rye. Rye unsuccessfully attempted to defend himself from Tovar by shooting him in the thigh with a handgun as he was being choked," said Breckenridge Police Chief Jim Baird in a statement issued Friday.
The Breckenridge Police Department filed a warrant for Tovar's arrest in February 2022, and eight months later, he turned himself in to the U.S. Marshals Service in Connecticut.
Tovar was then extradited back to Colorado and was taken into custody.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Breckenridge Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service in bringing this defendant to answer for the crimes he committed," said Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum. "Mr. Rye’s family and friends have waited more than four years for this justice, and I sincerely hope this is one more step in their healing process.”
Tovar's sentencing is scheduled for May 9. He faces a total of three to nine years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the two felonies he was convicted of, according to the release.
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