Police arrested a man from Colorado for allegedly using a bow and arrow to kill his roommate and then breaking into a local police station in an attempt to report the murder and turn himself in.
Carlos Alberto Trejo, 36, was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree for the killing of Martin Rodarte, 37, according to court records.
A probable cause affidavit details the night Trejo went to turn himself in. An officer working at the Colorado Springs Police Department arrested Trejo at around 1:23 am on Sunday, December 18, after he broke a glass window and tried to enter the back parking lot of the station.
According to the affidavit, Trejo climbed the back gate and tried to enter the station through the locked back door. When he couldn’t get in, he pulled the fire alarm and smashed the window near the door using an ice scraper.
The startled officer checked out the commotion and caught Trejo in the act. When he asked him what he was doing, Trejo confessed to murdering his friend and said he wanted to turn himself in.
Trejo told the cop that he shot his friend in the chest with an arrow. He gave the officer the house address and identified the victim as Martin.
Initially, the officer, identified as Corporal A. Grimes, did not believe the man because he had previously had an encounter with Trejo. He said that he had dealt with Trejo on December 16, and the man had admitted to being high on cocaine and acid, therefore, was hallucinating and emotionally distraught.
Corporal Grimes did not believe Trejo’s confession and thought he was high on drugs and was hallucinating about killing someone.
The affidavit states that at around 7 pm on December 16, Trejo called 911 and told the operator that he was trying to escape from a situation at his apartment but did not provide further details. When the operator tried to call him back, he became very uncooperative.
A few hours later, officers were called to the Guthrie Bar and Grill at 11 pm to do a welfare check on an unruly customer who was high on hallucinogenic drugs and making others uncomfortable. When officers arrived, Trejo admitted to being on drugs, and they took him to the hospital to get checked for an acid overdose.
It was only after the officer caught Trejo trying to break into the station and confessing to the murder that the police decided to check out the situation at his apartment.
They got to the apartment around 1:35 am and found the front door shut but unlocked. They went inside and, true to the confession, found a man lying on the bedroom floor with a bow next to his body.
In December, police spoke to a woman identified as Trejo’s girlfriend, who told them she had moved out of the apartment after she and Trejo got into a fight at the beginning of the month. She identified the victim as Trejo’s cousin and said that he had moved into the apartment after she moved out.
Trejo is being held on a $500,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail. He will appear in court on January 25.
