A Pueblo man is accused of killing his friend by hitting him repeatedly with a vehicle in the early morning hours of Christmas Day.
The same suspect, Joseph Rodriguez, was also convicted of vehicular homicide in July 2010 in connection to a drunken motorcycle wreck in which his 18-year-old girlfriend, Seleste Rivera, was killed.
What police say happened on Christmas Day
Police responded to the 2600 block of Himes Avenue just after 7 a.m. on Dec. 25 on a report of a dead body in front of a home.
The victim, later identified as Justin Lee Sapeda, was allegedly covered head to toe in bruises, lacerations, and abrasions, according to an autopsy report. His cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt force trauma.
Police received multiple calls in the early hours of Dec. 25 of a red truck causing a disturbance and driving recklessly, according to a Pueblo Police Department arrest affidavit.
During the investigation, detectives were able to recover video surveillance from several nearby homes and businesses showing a red truck in the area, the driver of which attempted to hit Sapeda at least three separate times over the course of 30 minutes between 1:31 a.m. and 2:01 a.m. that morning. The footage then showed the truck intentionally hit Sapeda twice at 2:05 a.m. and 2:06 a.m., according to the affidavit.
One witness told police Sapeda had come to the residence on Himes Avenue very early that morning and that a man with a red truck had broken down the front door to assault Sapeda.
The witness stated she did not know the suspect, but described him as Hispanic with some facial hair, which matched Rodriguez. The witness stated she told the man to leave and claimed at some point he tried to hit her with the truck as well.
Through security camera footage, police said they were able to identify the suspect vehicle as a red Ford F-150 registered to Joseph “Joe” Rodriguez, according to the affidavit.
Police were able to locate the vehicle and contact Rodriguez, who told them he did not remember the second half of the night but had been hanging out with Sapeda and his brother on Christmas Eve after bumping into Sapeda at a local liquor store earlier in the night.
Rodriguez stated he had no problem with Sapeda that he remembered. He said the last thing he remembered was agreeing to take Sapeda home after spending the night drinking beer and playing video games. Rodriguez’s brother corroborated that everyone had gotten along that night and Rodriguez had not appeared to have any problems with Sapeda, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez told police during an interview that he woke up the next morning at his house and noticed damage to his truck that had not been there before. When he heard Sapeda had been killed in an apparent homicide he became worried, he told investigators.
Rodriguez stated he remembered the first half of the night because he was not yet completely intoxicated but blacked out the second half of the night.
Rodriguez further admitted to changing the appearance of his truck by taking his tires and rims off and putting them on his stepdad’s truck ahead of voluntarily surrendering the truck to a bank, which he claimed was due to a debt owed on the vehicle.
Rodriguez also allegedly admitted to putting several stickers on the truck, taking off a reverse backing camera on the rear bumper, and taking out the stereo system.
Rodriguez is set to appear in the court of Judge Allison P. Ernst on Jan. 8. He is currently being held in the Pueblo County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
Rodriguez was convicted of vehicular homicide for drunken wreck in 2010
Court records show Rodriguez has a prior conviction for vehicular homicide and vehicular eluding stemming from a drunken motorcycle crash that led to the death of his girlfriend in 2010.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 12 years in prison in by Judge David Crockenberg in a plea agreement.
In that incident in July 2010, Rodriguez attempted to elude police after they tried to pull him over for running a stop sign, leading officers on a chase before smashing into a parked car, subsequently killing Rivera. Rodriguez then fled the scene.
He pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury in exchange for the court dismissing a second vehicular homicide charge, two counts of driving under the influence, one count of vehicular eluding and one count of driving under restraint.
Rodriguez was sentenced in May 2011 to 12 years in prison on the vehicular homicide charge and six years in prison for leaving the scene of the accident, with those sentences ordered to be served concurrently.
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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Suspect in Christmas murder was convicted of 2010 vehicular homicide