Denver police use Aurora’s license-plate reading system to ID, arrest a teenage murder suspect

Denver police used license-plate reader technology from neighboring Aurora to identify and arrest a 19-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

Police arrested Daniel Villegas on Saturday on suspicion of shooting and killing another 19-year-old male in the 10100 block of East Virginia Avenue two days earlier.

Denver police said in a news release posted to X that they conducted interviews and reviewed surveillance video, digital forensics and the Aurora Police Department’s automated license plate reader system to identify the suspect’s vehicle, which police said had traveled through Aurora before and after the April 2 shooting.

Villegas was arrested on Saturday with help from the Aurora Police Department and is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Denver police responded to a report of a shooting at 12:35 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 and found the teenage victim suffering from a gunshot wound on East Virginia Avenue. The victim was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The investigation by the Denver Police Department revealed Villegas and the victim were known to each other and that they may have been involved in a dispute over money owed by the victim.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.