Police said they have obtained an arrest warrant for a suspect wanted in connection with two separate fatal stabbings Sunday morning in northwest Aurora.
Ricky Roybal-Smith, 38, of Aurora, was already in custody in Denver, where he is being charged with murdering a fellow jail inmate after being held in a hit-and-run case that injured two pedestrians.
Roybal-Smith will be transferred to Adams County and booked on the new first-degree murder warrant, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Aurora Police Department.
Aurora’s warrant against Roybal-Smith is linked to the fatal stabbings Sunday of two men who were experiencing homelessness. The first report came in at around 1:45 a.m. of an unresponsive man in the 1500 block of Moline Street. When officers arrived, they found a stabbing victim, and their efforts to revive the man failed.
Just before 6:30 a.m., officers answered a second call of an unresponsive male near a bus stop on Peoria Street, south of East Colfax Avenue. He also had stab wounds and was dead when officers arrived.
Based on the timing, nearby locations and similar stabbing injuries, detectives determined the two crimes were related. They issued an arrest warrant for Roybal-Smith in both cases.
Roybal-Smith is also a suspect in the murder of a fellow inmate at the downtown Denver jail on Monday morning.
Roybal-Smith had initially been held on charges of careless driving that injured two pedestrians at Galapago Street and North Ninth Avenue, as well as of leaving the scene of that accident, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He is also suspected of being involved in a second accident at westbound Interstate 70 and North Lowell Street.
A Denver sheriff’s deputy found the man who shared a housing unit with Roybal-Smith unresponsive in his bunk at around 2:15 a.m. The man had been assaulted and later died from his injuries, according to a news release.
Royal-Smith pleaded guilty to vehicular assault charges in 2016 related to a high-speed chase in late 2015 with Littleton Police that ended in a crash into a parked SUV at South Santa Fe Drive and West Oxford Avenue. The crash seriously injured a person and Royal-Smith received a 12-year prison sentence.
Royal-Smith 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.
He received four years in that menacing case, but again was released early on parole in January 2025.
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.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
The post Aurora man suspected in 3 murders over 25-hour stretch appeared first on Denver Post