A Greeley woman will spend her life in prison after murdering a man and lighting his house on fire in 2021. 

After a two-week trial, 23-year-old Stacy Rodriguez was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree arson, tampering with a deceased human body and two counts of second-degree burglary by a Weld County jury on Wednesday, according to a news release from the 19th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Rodriguez, who was 19-years-old at the time, met 35-year-old Chris Dickerson at a Greeley bar on the night of Oct. 2, 2021. 

Hosanna Varela, 23-years-old at the time, was also with Rodriguez. Varela and Rodriguez went back to Dickerson’s home after the bar.

At Dickerson’s home in the 2400 block of 15th Avenue Court, Rodriguez stabbed the man to death and lit his house on fire, according to the release.

Both women were arrested in November 2021, according to the Greeley Police Department. 

Varela eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree arson, tampering with a deceased human body and accessory to a crime. She was sentenced to 32 years in prison in January 2024.

“Chris did not deserve to die that day that he befriended those two young women,” Allen Dickerson, the victim’s father, said during the sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon. “Chris deserved so much more in his life.”

Following Wednesday’s verdict, Rodriguez was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Weld County Judge Vincente Vigil.

She also received a 32-year sentence for first-degree arson, 12 years for tampering with a deceased human body and 12 years for each burglary charge. Both the arson and tampering sentences will run consecutive to the life sentence, according to the release.

The burglary sentences will run concurrent to one another, but will run consecutive to the other three sentences.

“This entire process has been a joke to this defendant,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia said. “She jokes. She laughs. The jury got to see her true character, which is nothing but diabolical and despicable. She is a threat to society and there’s no place for her in it.”