Aurora, CO: DeLeon due in court in girlfriend's slaying

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By BRANDON JOHANSSON
The Aurora Sentinel
Published: Thursday, August 5, 2010 7:44 AM MDT
AURORA | The preliminary hearing for an Aurora man who police say fatally shot his girlfriend in April is scheduled for next week.

Marco Antonio DeLeon, 22, was scheduled for the preliminary hearing in June, at which a judge was expected to rule if there is enough evidence for DeLeon to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge.

But according to court records, DeLeon got a new lawyer in May who asked that the hearing be delayed until August. A judge granted the request and rescheduled the hearing for Aug. 13.

DeLeon was taken into custody April 12 on an attempted first-degree murder charge in connection with that day’s shooting of Dakota Fresh, 19, his live-in girlfriend. Fresh died a few days after the shooting at a local hospital and DeLeon’s charge was upgraded to first-degree murder.

DeLeon is being held in the Adams County Jail without bond.

According to an arrest affidavit filed against DeLeon, police suspected him of being the shooter shortly after finding Fresh dead in the couple’s apartment at 2001 Fulton St.

A friend of the couple’s called police early that morning after a distraught DeLeon called him saying Fresh was dead. When police arrived at the home, they found Fresh unconscious with a gunshot wound to her head. A .40-caliber shell casing was on the floor near her.

That afternoon, hours after police had released DeLeon’s mug shot to the media and asked the public to help them find him, police working at the crime scene saw DeLeon’s silver Chrysler Sebring drive slowly down Fulton Street in front of the apartment. The car then sped away.

Police later spoke to a witness who told them DeLeon had come to a friend’s house after the shooting and fled with that friend, Nathaniel Raney, 22.

At about 6 p.m. April 12, about 12 hours after the shooting, police found DeLeon and Raney hiding in a home in the 1700 block of Fulton Street, less than four blocks from the shooting scene.

Raney was later charged with being an accessory to a crime, a felony.