(CNN) Three suspects have been charged with first degree murder. A 20-year-old woman was killed on a Colorado highway last month, after a large rock was thrown at her car and shattered her windshield, prosecutors reported Wednesday.
Nicholas Karol-Cheek, Joseph Koenig, and Zachary Kwak each face more than a dozen counts in total in the murder of Alexa Bartell, who was found dead in her car, and the injury of three others caused by multiple vehicles hitting rocks. On the evening of April 19, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office for the 1st Judicial District of Colorado.
In addition to the murder charges, the suspects—who were 18 at the time of the arrest—face six counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of attempted murder: second-degree assault. .
The suspects did not appeal. CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Bartell was driving in northern Jefferson County, just northwest of Denver, when a suspect who hit him allegedly threw a large rock out of sight at his Chevrolet Spark, causing it to crash into a field, according to arrest affidavits.
After the fatal attack, Kwak — who allegedly threw the rock that killed the woman — said, “We’ll have to go back and see,” according to the affidavits. Authorities say Kwak then took a picture of the incident.
When police investigators asked why, Kwak said he thought Karol Cheek or Koenig would “want it as a keepsake,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavits indicate that the day after Bartell’s death, Koenig and Kwak met and “attempted to obtain their first-hand accounts of (what) happened, particularly their denials of involvement.”
Police say Bartell was on the phone with a friend when their conversation ended abruptly. Using the Find My iPhone app, her friend found Bartell and her phone in a field south of State Highway 128, according to affidavits.
The documents showed that the friend found Bartell immobile and seriously injured in the head in the driver’s seat.
The documents showed that the suspects were involved in other incidents related to throwing stones at moving cars. Karol-Check and Koenig are said to have “engaged in throws since at least February for ten different days”.
The suspects are being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.
CNN’s Aya El Amrousy, Ray Sanchez, Michelle Watson, Sarah Dewberry and Rachel Webb contributed to this report.
