Adams County District Court Judge Jeffrey Ruff sentenced Anthony Dennis Grayson, 51, to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday, a mandatory sentence for first-degree murder.

An Adams County jury convicted Grayson on that charge on July 10, after a four-day trial.

The case was delayed because of questions surrounding Grayson’s competency.

Grayson was ultimately found competent and chose to represent himself at trial, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Adams County sheriff’s deputies responded to the Family Dollar store at 7067 Pecos Street at about 5 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2016. When they arrived, they found the manager, Alejandro Alvear, had been stabbed multiple times.

Alvear died from his injuries at the hospital, sheriff’s officials said.

Grayson told investigators that the stabbing started as a confrontation over items he had bought.

The incident was caught on the store’s surveillance video. Witnesses told deputies Grayson demanded money back from Alvear and threatened to stab him if he refused, according to the news release.

A review hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.

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The stabbing happened near North Broadway and East Colfax Avenue at 10 p.m. July 13, according to the Denver Police Department.

The victim died from his injuries Tuesday, agency officials said Wednesday.

Police described the suspect as a Black man between 18 and 25 years old. He was last seen wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, gray-tan jeans and white and black basketball shoes. He was also seen carrying a black and gray backpack with yellow zipper tabs.

Anyone with information about the case canmay contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

#Denver, do you recognize this suspect? If so, call @CrimeStoppersCO at 720-913-STOP(7867). Tipsters can remain anonymous and earn a cash reward! pic.twitter.com/PmtY7Rf80Y

— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) July 30, 2025

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Messiah Williams faces five felony charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence, according to court records.

Prosecutors also plan to pursue three violent crime sentence enhancers against Williams, court records show.

Williams was arrested just before 1 a.m. on July 21, when Douglas County sheriff’s deputies found him walking naked a mile south of his mother’s apartment.

His mother, 41-year-old Veronica Ann Davila, had been found dead with multiple stab wounds in that apartment less than two hours earlier, sheriff’s officials said.

A second family member, who told deputies that she had tried to intervene as Williams stabbed Davila, was also stabbed, Douglas County sheriff’s officials said.

Paramedics took her to the hospital in critical condition, but investigators said she is expected to survive.

Davila was already dead when first responders arrived at the apartment in the 1300 block of Sweet River Circle, sheriff’s officials said.

Williams will next appear in court on Oct. 3 for a preliminary hearing, according to court records.

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Jerry Morgan stepped in to work the grill in front of the Denver Youth Program’s location on Welton Street on Thursday afternoon, while Felipe Perez headed to talk with the trauma patient. Next time, they’ll switch roles. Both do outreach with young people at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence.

The connection between a cheesy lunch special and preventing violence might not be obvious to everyone, but in a neighborhood where food insecurity is common, a free meal can start a conversation that leads a young person to a positive path, such as the Denver Youth Program’s outdoor recreation group or its health care career shadowing option, Morgan said.

“We have to be able to get people the services they need,” he said.

Murders are trending down in Denver, with about 45% fewer people killed by others in the first six months of 2025 than in the same period of 2024. Data from 30 large cities around the country found an average drop of 17%, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

Preventing violence doesn’t happen without addressing the full picture of someone’s life, said Johnnie Williams, executive director of the Denver Youth Program. If young men can’t get a job to help their families buy food or keep the electricity on, they turn to illicit opportunities, he said.

“Some people deal with that by selling drugs. Some people deal with it by joining gangs,” he said.

At the Denver Youth Program, they can meet some of those needs through programs such as healing circles for young people recovering from trauma and a T-shirt shop that offers a paycheck and job training, Williams said. They also help youth and their families navigate the health care and social services systems.

“It’s everybody’s job” to help steer young people away from violence, he said.

The organization also attempts to deescalate disputes before they end in gunfire, and to intervene after shootings to prevent retaliation. The At-Risk Intervention and Mentoring, or AIM, program sends “credible messengers” to Denver Health, University of Colorado Hospital and other metro hospitals that see significant numbers of patients who survived a gunshot wound.

Credible messengers are community members who build trust with those most likely to be either victims or perpetrators of gun violence, who are disproportionately young men of color. Typically, they were previously involved in violence, and some have spent time in prison.

Perez, who was an AIM client as a young man and now works there as a responder, said seeing someone with similar experiences who isn’t judging them is powerful at a vulnerable moment. It can open people up to receiving mental health care and other help they need to avoid getting hurt again, or harming someone else, he said.

“They see someone that resembles them and they feel safe,” he said.

Studies seem to back up the idea that the days after someone sustains a bullet or stab wound are an effective time to change their direction. A hospital intervention program in Indianapolis found that over eight years, only about 4% of the 328 people who received services went on to commit a violent crime, and fewer than 2% had another violent injury.

In the second quarter of the year, AIM met with two people injured in community violence — one who had been stabbed and one whom a driver had hit intentionally – and one person with a self-inflicted bullet wound, according to a report it filed as part of a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Data from the summer months isn’t yet available.

Colorado hasn’t set up the grants to prove that a particular group’s efforts averted a certain number of injuries or deaths, but models that worked in other major cities should be helpful in the Denver area, said Dr. Ned Calonge, the state health department’s chief medical officer.

Studies from other cities have estimated that violence-interrupting efforts led to about 18% to 56% fewer killings, depending on the neighborhood.

About 90% of the funding for the violence-prevention grants comes from the federal government, so the state may have to get creative to continue them, Calonge said. No single strategy will solve a problem as complex as gun violence, but combining approaches such as credible messenger meetings with interventions like offering trigger locks to parents will lead to progress, he said.

“Making headway is something that’s going to take a lot of time,” he said. “I think we’re making starts in the right direction.”

Repeated violent injuries are common enough that doctors can think of trauma as a “chronic disease,” said Dr. Shevie Kassai, a trauma surgeon at HCA HealthOne Aurora, formerly known as Medical Center of Aurora. The hospital started working with AIM to connect survivors of shootings and stabbings to behavioral health treatment and other resources, in the hope that they won’t be back, she said.

Kassai estimated between half and 60% of her patients who survive “penetrating injuries” — mainly wounds from shootings or stabbings — return with similar injuries. Statewide, only about 2% of people hospitalized with a bullet or knife wound from 2020 to 2024 had a similar injury before, according to the state’s trauma registry. It may have missed people with less-severe injuries, though, because the registry only includes hospitals that can treat more severe trauma.

“All we can do is give patients, give all human beings, the tools to take care of themselves the best they can,” she said.

The only way that any of the efforts work is if people in the community know that someone truly cares about them and is in it for the long haul, said Randall Elliott, a violence intervention specialist who helps calm situations and connect victims and bystanders to mental health support after a shooting.

Services like free lunches and clothing distribution are a vital part of making young people feel they can seek help before a situation escalates, he said.

“It just shows that we’re a positive force in our community and we’re in tune with our community,” he said. “Trust is a rare and priceless jewel.”

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Messiah Williams was arrested just before 1 a.m. Monday after a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy found him walking naked a mile south of the apartment where his mom, Veronica Ann Davila, was found dead less than two hours earlier.

A family member who left the apartment in the 1300 block of Sweet River Circle at 11 p.m. Sunday told detectives everything seemed fine and Williams had just gotten out of the shower, sheriff’s officials wrote. He was homeless and had been kicked out of a nearby residential treatment facility on Saturday, and Davila agreed to take him in.

A second family member also said everything seemed normal before she heard Davila, 41, gasping for air from another room. When the woman walked into the kitchen, she saw Williams standing over his mother and stabbing her, she told police.

When the woman tried to intervene, Williams began stabbing her as well, and Davila tried to stop him before collapsing.

The woman who tried to intervene called 911 at 11:35 p.m. Sunday and told dispatchers she was dying, but managed to identify the person who attacked her as Williams.

She was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition but expected to survive, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Davila had already died by the time law enforcement arrived at the apartment, and deputies said she had multiple stab wounds.

Douglas County officials determined Williams was still in the neighborhood after a resident who lived a half mile south called 911 about a naked man who opened his garbage cans outside and appeared to dump something inside.

Williams surrendered to a deputy who found him walking north on Crossbridge Circle near Westbridge Drive.

He told detectives he had not seen his mother or the second woman in “a minute” and denied hurting them.

Williams was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and evidence tampering, all felonies. He is set to appear in court Friday for a filing of charges hearing.

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The sheriff’s office arrested Messiah Williams, 18, on several charges, including first-degree murder after deliberation, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and tampering with evidence, according to a press release.

Deputies were dispatched to the 1300 Block of Sweet River Circle in Castle Pines at 11:36 p.m. Sunday, said Deputy Daniel Carlin, spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived, they discovered one woman was dead from apparent stab wounds. A second woman’s arm was injured. Officers believe the injuries were caused by a knife, according to the press release.

The injured woman, 20, is in critical condition at a hospital, but is expected to make a full recovery, Carlin said.

Deputies found Williams naked in a field about a mile from the scene of the apartment complex, said Sheriff Darren Weekly during a press conference.

Williams is related to the two women, but officers have not provided details on their relationship.

The woman who was killed will be identified by the Douglas County Coroner’s Office.

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Samantha Shults was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder, Denver police said on social media.

Police had responded just after midnight Wednesday to a stabbing report in southeast Denver. The victim, a man, was taken from the 8400 block of East Hampden Avenue to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Shults and the victim lived together, police said, and the two allegedly had an altercation that ended with the victim dead.

Formal charges will be determined by the district attorney’s office.

The Denver Police Department first reported officers were investigating a homicide in the 8400 block of East Hampden Avenue on social media at 2:21 a.m. Wednesday.

The block is between South Tamarac Drive and South Yosemite Street.

An unidentified spokesperson for the police department later confirmed that a man had been stabbed in the area. Paramedics took the man to the hospital, where he later died.

The man will be identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

Investigators have contacted “all parties involved,” but no arrests had been made Wednesday, the spokesperson said.

The case remains under investigation.

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Anthony Dennis Grayson, 51, was convicted of first-degree murder by an Adams County jury after a four-day trial. Grayson faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the news release said.

The case faced delays because of issues around the defendant’s competency, the news release said, but Grayson was found competent and chose to represent himself at trial.

In September 2016, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded to a stabbing at the Family Dollar Store, 7067 Pecos St. Surveillance video and witnesses revealed that Grayson confronted manager Alejandro Alvear inside the store, the news release said. After an exchange, Grayson pulled a knife and stabbed Alvear several times. Alvear was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, but he did not survive.

Witnesses said Grayson demanded money back from Alvear and threatened to stab him if he refused, the news release said. The incident was caught on a security camera. Grayson was taken into custody at the scene and later charged.

“This was a senseless act of violence in a public setting that cost a man his life,” said District Attorney Brian Mason. “Thanks to the excellent work of law enforcement, eyewitnesses, and our prosecution team, we were able to secure justice for Mr. Alvear and his family.”

Grayson’s sentencing is scheduled for July 29.

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Ricky Roybal-Smith, 38, of Aurora, faces first-degree murder charges in each of the three separate homicides, according to Aurora and Denver police.

Roybal-Smith was being held in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center for investigation of first-degree murder in the Monday morning strangling death of his cellmate, Vincent Chacon, when Aurora detectives obtained a warrant connecting him to two fatal stabbings in northwest Aurora.

In the Denver case, Roybal-Smith alerted a deputy around 2 a.m. Monday that his cellmate Chacon, 35, was choking on an apple and needed help, according to a statement of probable cause filed with Denver District Court.

The deputy found Chacon lying unresponsive on the lower bunk bed with a blanket up to his neck and began CPR. When paramedics arrived, they couldn’t revive him.

Two Denver police detectives came to the jail to investigate Chacon’s death, and one of them found red marks on his neck and discoloration of his eyes, which the detective considered more aligned with manual strangulation rather than choking on food.

Officers transported Roybal-Smith for an interview at the homicide unit, where he invoked his right to remain silent, according to court records.

In the Aurora case, detectives previously had connected the two stabbings because they were similar and happened close to each other on the same morning. Both victims were homeless at the time of their deaths.

Police discovered the first man in the 1500 block of Moline Street about 1:45 a.m. Sunday and found the other man near a bus stop on Peoria Street south of East Colfax Avenue about 6:30 that morning.

The detectives obtained a warrant to arrest Roybal-Smith on first-degree murder charges, according to a news release, but did not say how they linked him to the stabbings. The warrant for his arrest was not available Thursday evening.

Roybal-Smith was initially being held in the Denver jail on charges of careless driving that injured two pedestrians at Galapago Street and North Ninth Avenue, and then leaving the scene of that crash, and of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

He is also suspected of being involved in a second crash at westbound Interstate 70 and North Lowell Boulevard.

Roybal-Smith previously pleaded guilty to vehicular assault charges in 2016 related to a high-speed chase with Littleton police in December 2015 that ended in a crash into a parked SUV at South Santa Fe Drive and West Oxford Avenue. Royal-Smith received a 12-year prison sentence for seriously injuring a person and avoiding arrest.

He qualified for an early release under Colorado law and was out on parole in 2022 after serving only half of his prison sentence. While on parole, he was arrested on felony menacing charges after swinging a filet knife at a fellow customer in a Walmart store in Englewood.

Roybal-Smith received a four-year sentence in that menacing case, but was released early on parole in January.

He is expected to be transferred to Adams County and booked on the new first-degree murder charges, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Aurora Police Department, but he was still in Denver’s detention center as of 4:20 p.m. Thursday.

Aurora police are offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information related to the homicide cases via Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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