Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith is an alleged killer from Colorado who would allegedly murder two homeless men and when authorities put him behind bars he would take a third life
According to police reports Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith would be arrested after he would stab a homeless man and an hour later would stab another homeless man. Roybal-Smith would be arrested after a hit and run and placed in the Denver jail. The next morning the body of Ricky Lee cellmate would be found dead
After an investigation police in Denver have determined that the cellmate death was not an accident but a homicide. Now Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith is facing a third murder charges
Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith News
The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner has determined the June death of an inmate inside the Downtown Denver Jail was not an accident but rather the result of a homicide. The classification promises to add a new level of complexity to an ongoing criminal case against a parolee already charged with the deaths of two in Aurora.
Aurora Police investigators believe Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith, early in the morning on June 29, fatally stabbed two unhoused men within an hour of one another near Peoria Street and East Colfax Avenue. Hours later, Denver Police officers arrested Roybal-Smith after they said he was involved in a hit-and-run involving two pedestrians near Galapago Street and West 9th Avenue. That night, they booked him into the Denver jail.
At 2 a.m. the following day, Roybal-Smith’s cellmate was found unconscious and not breathing. Initially, the medical examiner speculated Vincent Chacon might have choked on an apple, but an additional review – released here by 9NEWS Investigates for the first time – indicates investigators now believe Chacon died as a result of “asphyxia due to external compression of the neck” or strangulation.
Prosecutors in Adams County have already charged Roybal-Smith with two counts of first-degree murder for the June 29th stabbing deaths of Jesse Shafer and Scott Davenport. Denver prosecutors have yet to charge Roybal-Smith with the Chacon homicide.
Chacon’s mother said the new ruling from the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner provides some limited relief. Angela Hernandez said she never bought the accident hypothesis. “My son was murdered,” she told 9NEWS Investigates Thursday.
9NEWS Investigates has reported extensively on a series of errors found in the risk assessments of Roybal-Smith while he was in prison and while on parole. He’s been on parole five times since 2011. For years, the state considered him “very high” risk to reoffend but, in 2024 right before he went before the Colorado Parole Board, a risk assessment known as an SRT dropped his risk level to moderate. Upon release, the new classification subjected him to fewer drug screens and check-ins with a parole officer.
