Man who killed 2 unhoused men in Aurora pleads guilty to killing cellmate in Denver Jail; Sentenced to 48 years
A Colorado man who pleaded guilty last month to killing two unhoused men in Aurora and is accused of killing another person in 2022 pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing his cellmate in the Denver Jail last year.
Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith pleaded guilty to the June 30, 2025, killing of his cellmate, 34-year-old Vincent Chacon. Smith was in custody in the jail at the time after being arrested in connection with the killing of two men in Aurora — 27-year-old Jesse Shafer and 61-year-old Scott Davenport — the day before.
Smith, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in those killings on March 30 and was immediately sentenced to 80 years in prison.
After pleading guilty on Thursday to the jail killing, he was sentenced to 48 years in prison, plus an additional eight years for pleading guilty to driving under the influence, for a total of 56 years. That prison term will run concurrently to the 80-year sentence, meaning he won't serve more than 80 years for the combined three killings.
"In just over two days in Metro Denver, Ricky Roybal-Smith murdered three men in cold blood," Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a written statement on Thursday. "Today's sentence, alongside severe sentences in Adams County, ensures that Roybal-Smith will spend the rest of his life in prison, which is where he belongs given his horrific and senseless crimes."
Investigators said last month that Smith is now also under investigation for the 2022 killing of 42-year-old Margaret Eberhart in Englewood.
Eberhart was attacked outside the Englewood Civic Center on June 22 that year. A Lyft driver hit a panic alert button after he says his passenger, Eberhart, got out of his car to use a nearby porta-potty, then began shouting for help.
When officers arrived, they found Eberhart on the ground, unconscious, unresponsive, and without a pulse. They began lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived, and she was taken to a local hospital for treatment. She died two days later.
Due to pre-existing health conditions, her cause of death at the time was unable to be determined by the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office, and charges weren't initially filed.
Detectives looked into the case again in February of this year and in the process of bringing charges against him in that case.
He faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Eberhart and is due in Arapahoe County Court on April 28.
