On June 3, 2015, the life of 45-year-old Maria Stoian, a Caucasian female, was tragically cut short in her Thornton, Colorado home. Thornton police officers discovered her deceased inside the family residence located in the 7500 block of East 121st Place. An investigation revealed that she had died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Initially, authorities identified her husband, Stefan Stoian, then 47, as a person of interest in the homicide case. A search for him ensued, and just two days after his wife's body was found, police located and arrested him on June 5 in Sparks, Nevada. The details of what led him to Nevada have not been publicly disclosed.
Following his arrest, Stefan Stoian was charged with first-degree murder in connection with his wife's death. On June 23, 2015, the Seventeenth Judicial District Attorney announced the formal charges against him, which included one count of first-degree murder after deliberation.
In June of 2016, a jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Stefan Stoian, then 48, guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife, Maria. Following the conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Maria Stoian was remembered as a loving mother to her two children, Edward and Selena, and had graduated from college in her native Romania before building a life in the United States.
