The 17th Judicial District Attorney filed first-degree murder charges against a man accused of stabbing two people in Aurora in June.

Rick Roybal-Smith, 38, has been charged for fatally stabbing two homeless men on the street in Aurora within a few hours of each other in the early morning of June 29, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Both men were stabbed more than a dozen times each, according to court documents obtained by The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS.

According to the document, a witness who was driving home from work spotted a vehicle on fire in the 1500 block of Moline Street around 1:35 a.m. and then spotted a man yelling for help.

The witness reported that he called 911 but was placed on hold, so he walked back to his workplace to get gloves and returned. He found that the man had collapsed and described him as “taking his last breaths.” He said by that time, firefighters were at the scene due to the truck fire, and he flagged them down. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 911 call, obtained by 9NEWS Investigates, shows the witness trying to help the man while talking to the call taker.

It’s unclear whether the death and the car fire were connected.

According to the time provided by the city on the 911 call, the caller’s second call was approximately three minutes after his first call. Aurora 911 said the caller may have hung up after receiving a greeting in English and then Spanish, asking him not to hang up, and to remain on the line while call takers worked with other callers.

While detectives were still there, they learned about the second victim who was found about a half mile away. A man called and said there was a body at the bus stop, the affidavit says.

Security video from numerous businesses helped police put together a timeline of events. It shows the suspect inside a 7-Eleven just before the first victim was stabbed, the affidavit says.

At about 12:42 a.m., video shows the victim kneeling in front of the suspect as the suspect is swinging his arm. The suspect is seen leaving the area about six minutes later. Based on the video, police believe the victim was stabbed at that time and his body wasn’t found until several hours later. The autopsy showed the victim was stabbed 90 times.

Both men died at the scene.

2 deadly Aurora stabbings near Colfax are 'likely connected,' police say

Roybal-Smith was arrested later that day and booked into Denver’s Downtown Detention Center after he allegedly hit two pedestrians with his car while under the influence of drugs, according to a probable cause affidavit for that arrest. He fled the scene, only to be later tracked down and detained by police.

Just after 2:45 a.m. the following morning, Roybal-Smith’s cellmate in the center was found unresponsive by deputies with marks around his neck consistent with strangulation. Roybal-Smith denied to be interviewed by investigators after being advised of his constitutional rights.

Man accused of killing jail cellmate had prior arrests for aggravated assault, attempted murder

The suspect is no stranger to the criminal justice system. Roybal-Smith has a lengthy criminal history dating back to at least 2016, when he plead guilty to a vehicular assault-DUI charge and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. 

The incident occurred when Roybal-Smith hit a car stopped at a red light imn Littleton while driving 72 mph, a collision that resulted in the car’s occupants suffering serious injuries, according to a probable cause affidavit for that arrest. He later tested positive for amphetamines at the medical center.

After being released on parole, Roybal-Smith was arrested again on a weapons violation in June 2022 after threatening a man with a foot-long knife in the hunting and fishing department of a Walmart in Englewood, according to an affidavit for that arrest. 

Roybal-Smith’s next court appearance will take place at 8:30 a.m. on Monday in Adams County District Court.