Left: Stacy Rodriguez in court on March 12, 2025 (Law&Crime). Right: Christopher Dickerson (Greeley Police Department). Background: The street where the crime occurred (Google Maps).
A woman was sentenced Wednesday to life in the Colorado prison system for stabbing a man to death and setting fire to his home — and she apparently maintained a cheerful attitude throughout her sentencing.
One of the prosecutors knocked the defendant, Stacy Rodriguez, 23, for her cheerful disposition in trial. Indeed, she was seen briefly smiling in court after learning her fate for murdering Christopher Dickerson, 35.
“This entire process has been a joke to this defendant,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia said in a statement. “She jokes. She laughs. The jury got to see her true character which is nothing but diabolical and despicable. She is a threat to society and there’s no place for her in it.”
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Judge Vincente G. Vigil, of Colorado’s 19th Judicial District, on Wednesday took a more optimistic tone, calling on Rodriguez to change herself for the better and to be a positive influence on other women she interacts with in the prison system.
Nonetheless, he said she deserved the life sentence. Dickerson himself was blameless, the judge said, citing evidence he heard throughout the trial.
Rodriguez and another woman, Hosanna Varela, met the victim at a bar in the city of Greeley on Oct 2., 2021. They went to his place to hang out, but the night ended in violence when Rodriguez stabbed him to death and set the home on fire.
VERDICT: Jury forms were not completed. Judge sends the jury back. Attached screenshot has been the defendant’s affect throughout the trial. #HouseFireHomicide #StacyRodriguez pic.twitter.com/FlLjQ1AWvR
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) March 12, 2025
Jurors convicted Rodriguez of murder in the first degree, arson in the first degree, tampering with a deceased human body, and two counts of burglary in the second degree.
Varela pleaded guilty to first-degree arson, tampering with a decease human body and accessory to a crime; she was sentenced to 32 years in prison in January 2024.
“Your actions were horrible,” Vigil said Wednesday. “Your decisions were horrible, both in the commission of this act and the choices that you made after this act. It is a struggle for this court to understand how you can go from meeting a person to viciously stabbing them in the neck until they are dead in the course of a few hours. It is one of the most disturbing cases that I think has been before this court since I’ve had this job.”
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