Brendan Rye (Breckenridge Police Department) and Miles Tovar (U.S. Marshals Service)
A 40-year-old man in Colorado will spend more than a decade behind bars for killing his roommate, strangling the 29-year-old victim to death from behind and claiming he was acting in self-defense. Summit County District Court Judge Karen Romeo on Thursday ordered Miles Tovar to serve 12 years in a state correctional facility for the 2019 slaying of Brendan Rye, authorities announced.
A jury in March 2024 found Tovar guilty of one count of reckless manslaughter as well as one count of first-degree criminal trespass, both felonies.
In addition to the 12 years for manslaughter, Romeo also sentenced Tovar to two years on the trespassing charge, to run consecutively, meaning one after the other. Tovar was given credit for 598 days already served as he awaited trial.
Before formally sentencing Tovar, Romeo emphasized his “extensive criminal history” over the last two decades, much of which involved alcohol-related violent incidents, as well as his numerous arrests and accompanying aggravating circumstances, according to a news release from Colorado’s Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said that one of Rye’s coworkers, at about 9:48 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2019, called 911 and reported that Rye was unconscious and not breathing at a condominium in Breckenridge, Colorado, about 80 miles west of Denver. The caller, Rye, and Tovar were all living in the condominium temporarily while they renovated for the owner.
Once there, first responders said they found Rye unresponsive, lying on the bathroom floor. He was transported to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Authorities also found a then-35-year-old Tovar in the condo, suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the leg. Authorities transported Tovar to the Summit Medical Center for treatment, and he was released the following day.
Investigators learned that on the night of the killing, Tovar, Rye, and the reporting party had all gone to the condo owner’s other unit in the building for dinner, which was offered as a “thank you for their hard work.” Tovar became “heavily intoxicated” during dinner, and the owner was forced to ask him to leave. However, after being told to leave, Tovar repeatedly returned to the owner’s home for “various reasons,” forcing Rye to repeatedly step in and “physically lead” Tovar back to their unit, prosecutors said.
“The last time, Tovar shoved Brendan (Rye) out of the unit and slammed the door behind him, saying he did not like being disrespected,” prosecutors wrote in the release. “Tovar later went to Brendan’s room in the neighboring unit to have a ‘man conversation’ with Brendan (Rye). This led to the deadly confrontation between Tovar and Rye. At some point, the reporting party heard loud ‘pops’ inside the unit. Tovar had been shot in the leg once, and Rye’s death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.”
According to a report from the Summit Daily, Rye, who weighed only 134 pounds, was beaten bloody before he was strangled to death by the 180-pound Tovar. Police said that Rye was trying to defend himself from Tovar by shooting him in the thigh during the attack.
Prosecutors didn’t file charges against Tovar until February 2022, when he went on the run. He evaded authorities for nine months before he turned himself over to U.S. Marshals in Connecticut in October 2022.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Breckenridge Police Department for investigating this case, and the U.S. Marshals Service in bringing this defendant to answer for the crimes he committed,” Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum said in a statement. “Mr. Rye’s family and friends have waited more than four years for this justice, and I sincerely hope they can finally start their healing process.”
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