CrimeMay 02, 2024
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Second Suspect Arrested in Murder of Colorado Jeweler
Wheat Ridge, Colorado police took a 50-year-old man into custody Wednesday following a two-month search.
Michael McCormack, left, and Charles Robinson Shay both face murder charges in the Nov. 29 death of jeweler Peter Damian Arguello, who owned Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. (Photos provided by the Wheat Ridge Police Department)
Wheat Ridge, Colorado—Police in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge have arrested a second suspect in the murder of Peter Damian Arguello, who was shot and killed in his jewelry store in November.
Late Thursday, the Wheat Ridge Police Department announced the arrest of Michael McCormack, 50.
McCormack faces charges of second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and second-degree motor vehicle theft, police said.
He is the alleged accomplice of 41-year-old Charles Robinson Shay of Aurora, Colorado, whom police arrested in December after DNA recovered from a pair of flex cuffs found in Arguello’s store linked him to the crime.
Shay was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder on Jan. 18.
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Late Thursday, the Wheat Ridge Police Department announced the arrest of Michael McCormack, 50.
McCormack faces charges of second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and second-degree motor vehicle theft, police said.
He is the alleged accomplice of 41-year-old Charles Robinson Shay of Aurora, Colorado, whom police arrested in December after DNA recovered from a pair of flex cuffs found in Arguello’s store linked him to the crime.
Shay was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder on Jan. 18.
Arguello, 64, owned Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques, located on W. 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge, which is about 20 minutes northwest of Denver.
According to an affidavit filed at the time of Shay’s arrest, videos of the robbery homicide show that one man pulled a gun on Arguello and attempted to bind him with the flex cuffs.
Arguello resisted, the affidavit states, and the man shot him three times.
Two persons were seen leaving the jewelry store through the back door and fleeing the scene in a red Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, which police later determined had been stolen in Glendale, Colorado, the month before the murder.
On Dec. 1, police found the red pickup truck in Centennial, Colorado.
According to the affidavit, it had been set on fire and was badly damaged, but police recovered two hats from the bed of the truck that matched the hats worn by the suspects seen fleeing the scene of Arguello’s murder.
The Wheat Ridge Police Department said Thursday that it issued the arrest warrant for McCormack on March 7 and had been trying to track him down ever since.
With the help of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Wheat Ridge detectives located McCormack in the Black Hawk area, about 40 miles west of Denver.
He was taken into custody Wednesday with the help of the sheriff’s office and the Black Hawk Police Department.
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