One of the three Colorado teenagers charged in a rock-throwing spree that left a 20-year-old woman dead when a stone smashed through her car windshield pleaded guilty on Friday.
Zachary Kwak, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault and an additional count of criminal attempt to commit assault for his role in the deadly incident last year, KDVR reported.
He will serve a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of 32 years. His previous charges, which included murder, were dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Kwak and pals Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik and Joseph Koenig were 18-year-old high school seniors when they went on a multi-day spree hurling rocks and other objects at cars in April 2023 in suburban Denver.
On the night of April 19, Arvada resident Alexa Bartell was returning from work around 10:45 p.m. when a large landscaping rock they had picked up from a nearby Walmart sailed through her windshield and hit her, authorities said.
Bartell had been on the phone with a friend when the line suddenly went silent, officials said. Her lifeless body was later found in the wreckage of her car, which came to a stop in a field.
Cops said the trio returned to the scene of their handiwork later that night and snapped sadistic pictures of Bartell’s mangled vehicle.
The three were all arrested and charged with murder and a slew of other charges in Bartell’s killing and alleged attacks on five other vehicles that were damaged. The other drivers suffered only minor injuries.
Karol-Chik told police that he and Kwak started throwing rocks and statues at drivers in February, the outlet said.
He also alleged that Kwak tossed the rock that hit Bartell’s windshield while Koenig drove on April 19. Kwak, however, insisted that Koenig threw the fatal stone.
Koenig’s father, Mark Edwin Koenig, was also arrested in the aftermath for allegedly trying to prevent police from interviewing his son about the incident.
Kwak will be sentenced on Sept. 3 at the conclusion of Karol-Chik and Koenig’s trials, according to KDVR.
Karol-Chik is scheduled for a jury trial on June 7. Koenig is scheduled to appear for a jury trial on July 19.