Deputy Alexis Hein-Nutz, of Weld County, Colorado, was murdered in a hit-and-run while going to work on Sunday, just one week before her 25th birthday.
On Wednesday, Capt. Matt Turner of the Weld County North Jail Complex commemorated the dead officer, expressing that the culprit, Octavio Gonzalez-Garcia, is an illegal immigrant who is accused of driving intoxicated.
This could occur to anyone, he explained.
All of this made it virtually hard for the officers to investigate the crime at first. They had no idea who was driving this automobile since he fled through a cornfield and vanished, he continued.
Turner said that police captured Gonzalez-Garcia in another location but were disappointed that he was not already in custody.
It’s irritating from a law enforcement standpoint, but he is curious how the community feels about it. How dissatisfied are they? he stated.
Gonzalez-Garcia had previously been jailed for DUI and had a “failure to appear” warrant out for his arrest.
The incident corresponds with rising national anxiety over illegal immigration, as seen by a recent survey, which found that 62% of registered voters are “very” or “very” worried about the situation.
He is holding her handcuffs right now, and believes it speaks to the fact that she was part of a team, Turner continued. She was a lively person, and he believes one thing that really reflects the loss that they’re all feeling is that in the past 24 hours, one of the convicts she oversaw approached other deputies and said, ‘Hey, my family would want to give the funeral. How do they manage this?’
Turner stated that other convicts wanted to convey their condolences to the family through art and letters.
She did her work with sincerity and purpose, he remarked.
Turner stated that Gonzalez-Garcia was arrested with Hein-handcuffs, Nutz’s.
