In the winter of 2014, a tragic event unfolded in a home in unincorporated Adams County, a community near Denver, Colorado, that claimed the life of 37-year-old Jason Quijada. On December 10th, a distraught woman’s call to 911 summoned law enforcement to a scene of violence where Quijada, along with two teenagers, 18-year-old Johnny Gutierrez and 17-year-old Jayson Figueroa, had been fatally shot.
A fourth individual, Joshua Williamson, was also shot but survived the brutal attack.
The investigation into the triple homicide quickly identified two suspects, Gabriel Flores and Furmen Leyba. The motive for the slayings appeared to be robbery, as the assailants had stolen money, firearms, drugs, and credit cards from their victims. Flores, identified as the gunman, was apprehended on the same day as the murders following a high-speed chase that ended near Morrison. Leyba was taken into custody two days later, an event that was marked by further violence as he shot at an Adams County Sheriff's deputy during the arrest. The deputy was not seriously injured.
The legal proceedings that followed brought the details of the cold-blooded crime to light. Furmen Leyba was convicted in June 2016 of aggravated robbery and being an accessory to first-degree murder. In August of that year, he was sentenced to 36 years in prison. Gabriel Flores faced a trial that concluded in January 2017 with his conviction on three counts of first-degree murder, as well as attempted first-degree murder for the shooting of Joshua Williamson. He was also found guilty of aggravated robbery. The court sentenced Flores to three consecutive life terms in prison, plus an additional 48 years, ensuring that the man responsible for the deaths of Jason Quijada and the two teenagers would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
