Three teenagers accused of killing a 20-year-old woman while throwing large rocks at passing cars have been charged with murder and other crimes, prosecutors said Wednesday.
At 10:45 p.m. on April 19, Alexa Bartell was on the phone with a friend while driving her yellow Chevy Spark in the Denver suburb of Arvada, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, when she was hit by the rock.
After the call died down, the friend tracked Bartell’s location with a phone app, drove over and found the woman dead in her car, which had crashed into a field.
Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig, and Zachary Kwak, all 18, each face identical charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, second-degree assault, and attempted second-degree assault in Bartell’s death.
The boys later returned to take a photo of the car as a “memento,” Karol-Chik told investigators during questioning.
Alexa Bartell, 20, was returning from work at around 10:45 p.m. when the large rock sailed through her window shield and fatally struck her
Defendant Zachary Kwak listens to District Court Judge Christopher C. Zenisek during an arraignment in Jefferson County District Court on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Golden, Colorado
Bartell was driving the Chevy Spark when a rock fell through the windshield
A photo reveals the damage done to Bartell’s car during the attack
They also allegedly attacked six other cars in Arvada on April 19, Chief Justice Alexis King announced.
The boys later returned to take a photo of the car as a “memento,” Karol-Chik told investigators during questioning.
The murder was the fourth of six rock-hurling incidents reported from 10 p.m. that same evening, which left two other drivers with minor injuries.
The office of Karol-Chik’s attorney, Holly Gummerson, and Koenig’s attorney, Tom Ward, declined to comment. A message left for Kwak’s attorney, Emily Boehne, was not immediately returned. During a short hearing in the afternoon, the lawyers all refused to have the indictment read out.
Karol-Chik told investigators that Koenig slowed down so Kwak could take a picture of Bartell’s car after it crashed in a field. He said the three of them got excited every time they hit a car with landscaping stones taken from a Walmart parking lot, but acknowledged that he felt “a touch of guilt” when she drove past her car, according to court documents.
Kwak said he took the photo because he thought Karol-Chik or Koenig would want a “memento” of what happened, the arrest affidavits said.
He reportedly told the others, “We’ve got to go back and see that.”
Defendant Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik listens to District Court Judge Christopher C. Zenisek during an arraignment in Jefferson County District Court on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Golden, Colorado
Joseph Koenig hears District Judge Christopher C. Zenisek during an arraignment in Jefferson County District Court on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Golden, Colorado
Karol-Chik told investigators at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office that he and Koenig had thrown rocks and even a statue at passing cars at least 10 other days before Bartell was killed. Kwak heard what they had done and asked to join them, according to Karol-Chik’s account in the affidavits.
Karol-Chik and Kwak have made differing statements about who threw the fatal stone.
According to the arrest affidavits, Koenig did not speak to investigators after he was arrested.
Prosecutor Padraic Emerine said: “This was an extremely reckless and irresponsible situation involving the Defendant, which unfortunately resulted in the death of a very innocent and very young woman in this case.”
A friend of the trio told police he had watched them several hours earlier as they loaded a truck with landscaping stones taken from a Walmart parking lot. The friend claimed the three boys picked up “as much as they could carry.”
He said he knew “something bad was going to happen,” so asked Koenig, Karol-Chik and Kwak to take him home.
Joseph Koenig, Nicholas ‘Mitch’ Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak, all 18, all charged with murder
After the attack that killed Bartell (pictured), Kwak is said to have told the others, “We’ve got to go back and see that.” He then took a photo of the car, which had gone off the road, as a ‘memento’
The three alleged killers then patrolled roads in the area, looking for passing cars to target.
Kwak said they would use “maritime terms” when launching the rocks, saying, “Mitch would say things like ‘contact left,’ before Joseph threw the rock at a car to the left of theirs.”
He said the rock that killed Bartell made a “really loud noise…like a rail gun” when it made contact with her windshield.
Koenig was described by a friend as someone who liked to create “chaos” and often acted destructively.
“Joseph and Mitch talked about being ‘blood brothers’ now and they never got to talk about the incident,” Kwak added.
The three met the next day to “get their stories straight.”
They had thrown rocks at vehicles about ten times since February. Six other cars were damaged and two more drivers injured the night Bartell was killed.
Lyft and Uber driver Nathan Tipton was unharmed after being targeted.
At a news conference on Tuesday, he told reporters he was heading south on Highway 93, close to the Jefferson County and Boulder County lines, at about 10:15 p.m.
“I saw two vehicles heading north, but I could only see the headlights, it was a dark road,” he said. ‘And then a big crush – it sounded like the blast of a shotgun. It scared me to death.’
He said he stopped immediately and saw that both windows on the driver’s side of his minivan were shattered.
‘It’s terrible. No one should lose their child for a random act of whatever this is,” he added.