Left: Alexa Bartell (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department). Right: Joseph Koenig (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department).
A Colorado man who reportedly had a “big smile on his face” after throwing a rock off an overpass at a vehicle, causing the death of its driver, was found guilty of murder.
Joseph Edwin Koenig, 20, was charged with 19 felonies in connection with the April 2023 death of Alexa Bartell, 20, and found guilty by a jury of all of them. Koenig was one of three teenagers riding in a truck that was reportedly traveling as fast as 103 mph on a road in Colorado’s Jefferson County. That night, the three boys took turns throwing rocks at other cars passing by, including the Chevy Spark driven by Bartell.
The other two passengers in the car — Nicholas Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak — took plea deals and testified against their now-former friend. As previously reported by Law&Crime, Karol-Chik admitted to taking part in the same rock-throwing activity on previous occasions. While he was on the stand testifying against Koenig, he told the court that Koenig let out a satisfied whoop when he saw Bartell’s car veer off the street and into a fence.
Karol-Chik told the court that Koenig “was excited. He would just look at us with this big smile on his face.”
Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, criminal attempt to commit murder in the first degree, and crime of violence. Kwak pleaded guilty to three assault charges including one count of first-degree assault in connection to Bartell; his sentence is expected to be 20 to 32 years in prison. They will be sentenced in May.
During Koenig’s trial, Karol-Chik also admitted on the stand that he was inconsistent in statements he gave police. He testified that he and Koenig planned to “say that [Kwak] did it,” intending to point the finger at their friend. But even while Karol-Chik had genuinely believed that Kwak threw the 9.3-pound rock that killed Bartell, he ultimately confirmed it was Koenig.
Koenig is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3.
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