JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (Scripps News Denver/Court TV) — A Colorado man faces life behind bars after he was convicted of murdering a young woman by throwing a rock at her car, smashing her windshield.
Joseph Koenig is charged with the murder of Alexa Bartell, who was hit with a rock thrown through her windshield. (Scripps News Denver)
Joseph Koenig was convicted of 19 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, third-degree assault and attempted third-degree assault in connection with the 2023 death of Alexa Bartell. Bartell was killed on April 19, 2023, when a large landscaping rock crashed through her windshield as she was driving in Jefferson County.
Koenig is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3.
Approximately a week after Bartell’s death, police arrested Koenig as well as Zachary Kwak and Nicholas Karol-Chik. Both Kwak and Karol-Chik pleaded guilty, accepting deals with the prosecution that required them to testify against Koenig at his trial.
Kwak described what happened that day, saying that they had gathered the landscaping rocks from a median area along the road. At some point, Kwak said that Karol-Chik and Koenig began throwing rocks at stationary cars, describing Koenig as throwing with his dominant left hand “shot put style.”
Kwak and Karol-Chik face potential sentences of up to 32 and 72 years, respectively, when they are sentenced.
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