JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — One of three suspects charged with first-degree murder after a 20-year-old woman was killed by a rock that crashed through her windshield last year pleaded guilty to three counts Friday morning.
Zachary Kwak, 19, appeared in Jefferson County District Court where he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and attempted second-degree assault. Thirteen counts were dismissed and Kwak's bond was revoked.
As part of the plea agreement, he faces between 20 and 32 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Another condition of the deal forbids Kwak from being sentenced as a youthful offender.
He along with Joseph Koenig and Nicholas Karol-Chik were each charged with first-degree murder for the death of Alexa Bartell and multiple counts of attempted murder. Under the terms of his deal, Kwak is required to cooperate with the prosecutions of Koenig and Karol-Chik.
Bartell was killed as she drove on Indiana Street near Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge on April 19, 2023. At the time, she was on the phone with a friend, and the line went silent. Her friend tracked down her phone and drove to the location to find Bartell dead inside her car, which was off the roadway in a field.
The attempted murder charges are related to other incidents that occurred the same night Bartell was killed. Six other drivers, whose cars were hit the night Bartell died, survived.
One man reported that he saw at least two people in another vehicle before he saw a rock "come from the middle of that vehicle" and through his windshield. It hit the man in the shoulder and landed in his front seat, an arrest affidavit from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says. The man reported that he believed the rock might have come from a sunroof area and described it being tossed in an "overhand throwing motion."
All three suspects were arrested about a week after Bartell's death. According to prior court testimony, investigators pulled cellphone data for devices that pinged in the areas of the incidents. One phone number pinged at four of the locations and it belonged to Koenig.
Karol-Chik is set to go to trial first in early June. Koenig's trial is on the calendar for late July into early August. He is charged with additional counts related to other incidents in the months prior to Bartell's death.
Kwak is set to be sentenced on Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. after the resolution of the cases for his co-defendants.
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