Man Sentenced For Lakewood Vehicular Homicide

LAKEWOOD, CO — A man was sentenced Monday to 158 years in prison for a double vehicular homicide that left two people dead and two others severely injured in Lakewood.

William Jokay-Szilagji, 29, was found guilty in February of 24 counts, including vehicular homicide, first-degree assault and vehicular eluding causing serious bodily injury, the 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office said. After a one-week trial, the jury deliberated for two days before returning its verdict.

On May 19, 2019, Lakewood police officers received a report of a suspicious person at 12350 W. Nevada Place, authorities said. After arriving around 1:45 a.m., the officers said they saw a man, who was wearing all black, run up to a Toyota 4 Runner. Two women were inside the vehicle.

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After Jokay-Szilagji ignored the officers' orders to stop, he jumped into the vehicle and backed into the police car, then drove through a 6-foot wooden fence into a playground where his vehicle got temporarily stuck in a sandbox, authorities said.

Jokay-Szilagji was able to escape in the vehicle and turned off the 4 Runner's lights, police said. He then sped east on Alameda and ran a red light, crashing into a Nissan, according to the attorney's office.

Both the driver of the Nissan, 26-year-old Jacob Bowen, and his passenger, 30-year-old Jesse Edmonds, were killed. The two had just arrived in Colorado on vacation and were less than three miles from the home of the friend they were here to visit, the DA's office said. Both men lived in Kansas.

The two women who were inside the 4 runner suffered serious injuries, the DA's office said.

Investigators found that Jokay-Szilagji had stolen the 4 Runner as part of a crime spree, which included the robbery of a person at a bar in Arvada, trespassing in another vehicle, and stealing a rifle, tactical vest, credit cards and wallets in a home burglary, the DA's office said.

Police also found 4.5 grams of methamphetamine in the vehicle, and said that Jokay-Szilagji had injected the drug earlier in the evening of the crash. Around 16 hours later, while he was still at the hospital, he had 300 ng. of meth and 78 ng. of amphetamine in his system, authorities said.