Colorado Teen Enters Guilty Plea for Role In Fatal Rock-Throwing Incident Killing Woman

DENVER  — Prosecutors stated that one of the three teenagers accused of killing a 20-year-old woman in Colorado while hurling big rocks at oncoming cars entered a guilty plea on Friday to lesser counts.

Zachary Kwak, 19, is required by the agreement they reached to assist in the prosecution of the other two teenagers who are still facing first-degree murder charges in Alexa Bartell’s death.

That might entail being asked to testify against Joseph Koenig or Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, according to Brionna Boatright, a district attorney’s spokesperson for Alexis King.

Both Koenig and Karol-Chik have entered not-guilty pleas.

On April 19, 2023, Kwak entered a guilty plea to first-degree assault in connection with Bartell’s death, admitting that his actions posed a serious risk of death, according to King’s office.

Concerning the rocks that the prosecution claims were thrown from the trio’s truck earlier that evening, he also entered a guilty plea to charges of second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault. There were three other casualties.

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Kwak pled guilty to those counts, and in exchange, the prosecution withdrew more serious accusations against him, including first-degree murder. Kwak might spend 20 to 32 years behind bars, according to the prosecution. His sentencing is not expected until September 3, following the separate trial of Koenig and Karol-Chik.

Holly Gummerson, Karol-Chik’s attorney, opted not to comment on the plea agreement or the accusations made against her client. Emails and phone calls seeking comment were not immediately answered by Koenig’s attorneys.

The three of them, according to the prosecution, loaded Karol-Chik’s pickup truck with landscaping rocks they stole from a Walmart and drove about in it the night Bartell was killed.

A few days after Bartell was struck while traveling northwest of Denver and chatting on the phone with a friend, the men were taken into custody. The friend used a phone app to locate Bartell after the connection ended and discovered her dead in her car, which had collided with a field.

According to investigators, Bartell was killed by the rock, not the collision.