The Denver District Attorney on Friday filed first-degree murder charges against the 24-year-old man accused of stabbing four people at the 16th Street Mall last weekend, killing two.

Elijah Caudill is now facing two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and four violent crime sentence enhancers. He has been appointed a public defender.

The charges were filed in Denver District Court on Friday morning, according to court documents. Caudill is being held in Denver City Jail, documents obtained by The Denver Gazette showed. He was arrested last Sunday evening. 

Three of the stabbings happened on Saturday between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.  

Celinda Levno, 71, one of the victims during the Saturday attack, lost her life. The American Airline flight attendant who was in Denver for a layover was stabbed in the throat outside of the Jamba Juice at 16th and California. 

Tyler Faulkner, a general manager at the Jamba Juice, watched the incident unfold through the storefront window.

“I could see her. She was barely standing by the store entrance A man ran in asking for napkins and they laid her down on the concrete. He came in three times, so I grabbed some towels to help with the blood,” Faulkner told The Denver Gazette on Tuesday. He said he saw a figure running from the scene, but that bystanders were too busy helping Levno to chase him. 

The second person killed was 34-year-old Nicholas Burkett, who was attacked just after 8 p.m. the next night near the intersection of 16th Street and Wynkoop Street — around a block from Union Station.

Friends said that Burkett was homeless, in a wheelchair and often hung out at the walkway at Union Station. 

The two people who survived have not been identified. 

Caudill was no stranger to law enforcement. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas confirmed in a news conference Monday night that his first police encounter occurred at the age of 16 followed by more than a dozen charges between 2018 and 2024. 

Among the other cases against Caudill was a sexual assault charge in January 2024 out of Denver, in which he allegedly groped a woman at the Denver Cares Detox Facility. Prosecutors in that case asked for a “competency pre-screen,” according to court records.

While in the Denver Jail on that case, prosecutors alleged that Caudill, on two consecutive days, assaulted two inmates. In the latter incident, court records showed that Caudill placed a female in a chokehold before punching her in the face. Both cases resulted in misdemeanor charges. 

Caudill’s parole ended in May, but he remained in the Denver Detention Center. 

While in custody at the Denver Detention Center, Caudill kicked a glass door repeatedly and shattered it in the jail’s recreation yard on Aug. 8, 2024, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Caudill was ultimately accepted by Bridges of Colorado — a statewide program that facilitates collaboration between the criminal justice and mental health systems that has placed court liaisons throughout Colorado’s 22 judicial districts — on Nov. 12, with the promise of reporting to the program via the bus in Aurora. His defense attorney claimed he would be staying at a home in Aurora, as well, according to court records.

“Our thoughts are with the victims of these terrible attacks and their families. The Denver DA’s office will prosecute this case to the full extent of the law. Particular thanks and appreciation are due to the prosecutors handling the case, as well as the officers and detectives with the Denver Police Department,” said Denver District Attorney John Walsh in a news release.

Denver Gazette reporter Sage Kelley contributed to this story.