Patrick Lee Apostol: Denver man arrested 3 years after shooting hus GF's lover who was an aspiring muiscian
DENVER, COLORADO: Denver authorities have arrested a person of interest three years after he allegedly shot his girlfriend's lover who was a budding musician beloved by his family and fellow bandmates.
Patrick Lee Apostol stands accused of fatally shooting Zackary Smith, 31. According to the Denver Police Department, he was arrested on Friday, November 17, on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Smith was shot in the back of the head as he drove away after he and Apostol’s girlfriend had sex outside their home, police said.
When were the authorities informed about the incident involving Patrick Lee Apostol?
On September 10, 2020, police responded shortly before 4 am to a ShotSpotter alert on the city’s east side. Upon their arrival, they discovered a car flipped over in an alley with a man, later identified as Smith, in the driver’s seat, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Emergency responders immediately took him to a nearby medical facility where he was later declared dead. A bullet had entered the rear window of the car and struck Smith. Investigators recovered a single nine mm bullet casing from the alley.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Apostol and his girlfriend allegedly tried to cover up the murder. However, the defendant's girlfriend has not been charged with a crime.
In the wake of the shooting, detectives received information from a man who said Apostol’s girlfriend and Smith were having an “intimate relationship” and the only time he could see her was when “Apostol was out of town.”
The confidant also informed the officers that Apostol and his girlfriend lived just outside the alley where Smith was shot, as per the affidavit. When investigators initially interviewed Apostol he was wearing a black robe. He also had ring cameras that had a perfect view and would have captured the shooting.
But, after the authorities obtained the videos, the footage around the time of the shooting was missing. It seemed as if someone had deleted the footage, detectives concluded.
What did Patrick Lee Apostol's girlfriend tell the authorities?
In an interview with the detectives on September 21, 2020, the girlfriend said she and Smith knew each other for about nine years and would “flirt at times” but denied having a sexual relationship. She admitted that Smith had texted her the night of the murder and asked to hang out.
She said he came over between 2 am and 2.30 am. He came and parked in the alley and she came out to greet him. Apostol was asleep and did not know Smith was coming over, she allegedly told detectives. She claimed they sat in the car for about 15 or 20 minutes, he left and she went inside to finish laundry in preparation for an upcoming trip, the affidavit said.
The girlfriend also told detectives that the day after the murder she had to do a factory reset on her phone because it wasn’t working properly. Detectives seized her phone but couldn’t come up with anything useful. Detectives later determined she likely deleted the data on her phone to get rid text messages, the affidavit said.
What did the authorities find in Patrick Lee Apostol's home?
A search warrant of Apostol's home the same day as his girlfriend’s interview turned out to be fruitful. His robe was seized and came back positive for gunshot residue, the affidavit said. Investigators found two nine mm gun cases, the same caliber weapon used in the murder, but one of them was empty.
Although detectives lacked sufficient evidence to arrest Apostol, court documents say federal authorities arrested him on possession of illegal firearms and drug distribution charges. He pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in August, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.
Investigators decided to re-examine Patrick Lee Apostol and his girlfriend's phone
In July of this year, investigators decided to re-examine Apostol, his girlfriend and Smith’s cell phones, thinking that technology had advanced enough in the three years since the shooting that maybe they could extract more information and luckily, it did help them to make a breakthrough in the case.
They were able to get into Smith’s phone which unveiled eight months worth of text messages between him and his lover all the way up to the night of the murder which showed he met up with her for “drugs and sex” in his car in the alley where he was later found dead, the affidavit said.
An analysis of Apostol’s phone also showed he deleted communication between him and his girlfriend about a half-hour after the murder, according to the affidavit. Tipsters also told cops that Apostol owned an all-white nine mm handgun, the one from the missing gun case.
Lab techs analyzed the bullet recovered from Smith’s head and determined it came from the same firearm that Apostol reportedly owned, though the actual murder weapon was never recovered.
Investigators were able to get a warrant to obtain the girlfriend’s DNA with the additional information from the cellphones. In August, it was determined that the female DNA found in Smith’s underwear was a match to Apostol’s girlfriend. Prosecutors determined there was now enough evidence to arrest Apostol. He’s in jail without bond.
What did Zackary Smith's father say?
Smith's death has left his father utterly devastated. His father Scot Smith told local Fox affiliate KDVR that the family moved to Denver in 2002. The younger Smith loved living in the Mile High City and became ingrained in the music scene. He played guitar for the electric dance music band Autonomix.
“He was very talented. The first CD he did, he was only 24, 25 years old and the music was incredible,” his father said, adding “To think that he did that at such a young age still blows me away.”
His bandmate Josh Nermon told NBC affiliate KUSA that the two were writing a song together just hours before he died. Nermon said the two had great chemistry when it came to making music.
“It’s something that doesn’t happen very often when you get two musicians or more that are so much on the same page and compliment each other in a very supportive and unique way that brings the most out of one another without it being competitive,” Nermon said.
“We had a lot more fun than a lot of other bands I’ll tell you that much and it was contagious like people saw us smile, we took risks together, we just had fun and we tried to share it with others," he added.