Colorado man gets life sentence for killing girlfriend, fleeing to Mexico
A 37-year-old Denver area man was recently found guilty of trying to hide in Mexico after fatally stabbing a woman he was dating two years ago.
An Adams County jury convicted Adrian Carracedo-Vega of first-degree murder on Nov. 24. The judge immediately sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility for parole.
Sachely Diaz was found crawling in an alley behind an apartment building on Dec. 20, 2023. She was near the apartment building's dumpsters in the 1700 block of West 85th Avenue in Federal Heights. She was covered in blood and, according to Adams County prosecutors, told a witness, "I'm dying, I'm dying."
Diaz had been stabbed twice in her torso. She died after being taken to a hospital. She was 20 years old.
A friend had reported her missing earlier that day when she failed to return from an appointment at a nail salon.
Remarkably, a Thornton woman called police 14 minutes after Diaz passed away, according to a case document. That woman described a bloody pile of clothes she found in her bedroom which she believed belonged the father of her child, Carracedo-Vega. The woman also said her roommate's car was missing. Carracedo-Vega had previously borrowed the vehicle from her roommate had keys to it, as stated in Carracedo-Vega's arrest affidavit.
The woman told investigators she learned a year and a half earlier that Carracedo-Vega had been established a relationship with Diaz. She continued a "platonic" relationship with Carracedo-Vega since she had at that time just given birth to their child and, in her words to investigators, became "acquiescent."
The car was found the following day in Denver. Investigators discovered blood smears on a rear fender and strands of black hair pinched in a door handle, per the affidavit. Inside the car, next to the center console, they found a 27-inch, straight-blade sword. Investigators said it had blood stains along its entire length.
That blood was confirmed to be Diaz's.
A week later, prosecutors with the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Adams County filed a murder charge against Carracedo-Vega. A federal arrest warrant was issued.
He was caught four months later in Mexico.
Prosecutors pointed out Carracedo-Vega's cell phone was in the area of the nail salon at the time of Diaz's disappearance.
"This was a brutal killing and the defendant has now been held accountable," 17th District Attorney Brian Mason stated in a press release. "Sachely Diaz was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. Her tragic murder is a stark reminder of the devastating impact of domestic violence in this community. Today, her family hopefully gets some measure of peace, though the pain of their loss will never go away."
The trial lasted six days.
