Man sentenced to 80 years for fatal stabbings of two homeless men in Aurora

AURORA |  A 38-year-old man has been sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to the fatal stabbings of two homeless men in northwest Aurora last year, prosecutors said Monday.

Ricky Roybal-Smith was sentenced in Adams County District Court to two, consecutive, 40-year terms after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the June 29, 2025, killings of Jesse Shafer, 27, and Scott Davenport, 61.

Aurora police said the attacks occurred within a short time of each other during the early morning along and near East Colfax Avenue.

Police were first called at about 1:45 a.m. to the 1500 block of Moline Street after a report of an unresponsive man. Officers found Shafer suffering from multiple stab wounds and attempted lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

While officers were still investigating, a second call came in reporting another unresponsive man near a bus stop on Peoria Street just north of East Colfax Avenue. Davenport was found dead at the scene with numerous stab wounds.

Investigators later determined both men were homeless and linked the killings based on similarities in the attacks and their close proximity in time and location.

According to prosecutors, Roybal-Smith went along East Colfax Avenue and carried out both attacks, fatally stabbing Shafer about 15 times before killing Davenport less than a mile away in a second attack involving about 90 stab wounds.

Detectives used surveillance footage, witness statements and physical evidence to track Roybal-Smith’s movements between the two scenes and establish a timeline of the killings.

Roybal-Smith was initially held in a Denver jail on unrelated charges before being transferred to Adams County to face murder charges.

Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason said the sentence ensures Roybal-Smith will spend the rest of his life in prison.

“These were horrific, senseless murders,” Mason said in a statement. “Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for the lives he took and for the fear and trauma he inflicted on our community.”