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DNA found inside the Wheat Ridge jewelry store and on items left behind link Charles Shay to the killing of Peter Arguello, police say.
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — DNA and a cellphone helped link a burglary suspect to the killing of a Wheat Ridge jewelry store owner, according to an arrest affidavit.
Charles Shay is now facing a murder charge in connection with the death of Peter Arguello who was found fatally shot behind his Wheat Ridge jewelry store in November. He’s been in custody since Dec. 27 when he was arrested on charges related to a burglary that occurred in late December at the same business.
On Nov. 29 officers responded to the business at 7220 West 38th Avenue around 11:15 a.m. for a report of an injured man.
When they arrived they found Arguello, who had been shot, lying on the ground behind the business. Witnesses reported, according to the affidavit from Wheat Ridge Police, that they saw two men walking from the business. They were seen leaving in a red Chevrolet pickup, which was later determined to be stolen.
Investigators reviewed security footage from the business and observed Arguello walking to the front door to unlock it, the affidavit says. He’s seen in the video letting a man wearing a Marine ball cap and white Broncos jersey inside the store.
According to the affidavit, the man appears to “fist bump” Arguello and then closes the door behind him by using his elbow. The man appears to be looking at some items on display and as Arguello approaches him the man pulls out a gun and escorts Arguello to the rear of the store, the affidavit says.
The man, according to the document, orders Arguello to kneel down and is then seen in the video pulling a black object out of his pocket and appears to be trying to place it on Arguello’s wrist. According to the document, Arguello resists and the man appears to assault him.
Arguello is seen in the video entering the bathroom and closing the door and around that time, another man is seen in the rear of the store, the affidavit says.
The first man is seen in the video, according to the affidavit, going back to the front door and locking the deadbolt. He’s also seen picking up a cell phone from the counter.
Investigators later found black flex cuffs on the floor in front of a safe from which silver coins had been removed. DNA from them matched Shay, according to court documents. Detectives also reviewed phone records for Arguello and found his phone’s last ping was within two hours of him being killed. The ping was from a tower located about .4 miles from Shay’s Aurora home.
Detectives conducted surveillance of Shay’s home and got a warrant to place a GPS device on a stolen car that was often parked at the home, according to the affidavit. The data showed that the vehicle was in the area near the Wheat Ridge jewelry store during three different time periods on Dec. 24 and three different time periods on Dec. 26. The last time was just a few minutes before the burglary was reported.
The stolen red truck connected to the homicide was found burned in Aurora on Dec. 1. Although it had been set on fire, investigators recovered two hats, which appeared to match the hats worn by the suspects seen in the security camera video, the affidavit says. Specifically, one of them was a Marine ball cap.
After Shay was arrested for the burglary, he told investigators he had heard about the homicide at the business and had looked at this “as a crime of opportunity, knowing that the business was boarded up and not occupied,” according to an affidavit related to the burglary case.
While in jail, Shay has spoken to his wife on the phone multiple times, the affidavit says. During one call he told his wife that his DNA was found “only” on the flex cuffs and that he has flex cuffs in his garage and that “numerous” friends have access and could have grabbed flex cuffs with his DNA on them.
The affidavit notes that DNA likely belonging to Shay was also found in the following places:
- Zip ties found inside the jewelry store
- Exterior handle of the jewelry shop’s bathroom
- Marine hat the suspect is seen wearing which was covered in the burned out truck
Shay is next due in court related to the homicide case on Jan. 22. So far, no other arrests have been made.
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