Colorado 20 year-old killed after rock thrown at car

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Investigators are still looking for whomever was involved in a string of crimes Wednesday night that resulted in the death of a 20-year-old after she was struck and killed by a large rock while driving.

The crimes happened Wednesday night starting at 10 p.m.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, 20 year-old Alexa Bartell, of Arvada, was driving when one of the suspects threw a large rock either from a vehicle or the side of the road at her car.

Investigators say the rock hit Bartell and she was killed.

Moments earlier, Bartell was on the phone with a friend when the call went silent.

“Her friend was worried. So her friend used an app to track her phone, drove to the location where it looked like Alexa’s phone was just sitting, just sitting still,” JSCO Public Information Officer Jacki Kelley said. “She discovered that Alexa’s car had gone off the road into a field. And then she discovered her body inside.”

While the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office originally said they had located a Dodge pickup truck that may have been involved, they said just before 10 p.m. Thursday that they “positively confirmed” that the truck and its owner “are not involved in the crime series related to the death of Alexa Bartell.”

This was not the first instance of rocks being thrown at cars that night.

Timeline of the crime spree

• 10:04 p.m. — 100th Avenue and Simms Street in Westminster: A rock went through a windshield but the driver was uninjured
  
• 10:36 p.m. — McCaslin Boulevard and South Indiana Street near the entrance to the Rock Creek neighborhood in Boulder County: Rock went through the windshield and caused minor injuries to the driver
  
• 10:37 p.m. — McCaslin Boulevard and Indiana Street near the entrance to the Rock Creek neighborhood in Boulder County: Rock hit a Toyota 4Runner and caused body damage to the vehicle but the driver was uninjured
• 10:45 p.m. — 10600 block of Indiana Street in Jefferson County: Rock went through a windshield of a yellow Chevy Spark and killed the driver
  
• Thursday, 12:24 a.m. Highway 93 at Highway 72 in Arvada: Rock went through the windshield and caused minor injuries to the driver

“These are not games, these are people’s lives and what happened last night should never have happened,” Kelley said. “We don’t know who these suspects are, why they’re trying to do this, but they killed somebody last night and we want to know who they are.”

Now, JCSO is working with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Arvada Police and Westminster Police to gather information. They believe there may be more victims.

If you know anything about these crimes or the suspects who may be involved, you are asked to call the JCSO tip line at (303) 271-5612. If you have home security or dash cameras that may have caught the crimes, deputies want to talk to you.