(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) is opening its Cold Case Files in hopes of closing some of them for good. FOX21 is highlighting several cases with known suspects that police have been unable to find.
March 30, 2008; It was around 11:30 p.m. when Colorado Springs Police received a report of a large fight and a stabbing at the Burger King on East Platte Avenue, near Union Blvd.
“When officers arrived there, they located a male who appeared to be suffering from a stab wound. That individual was transported to a local hospital and was later declared deceased,” said Sergeant Marcus Lehmkuhl, with the CSPD.
The victim was identified as 25-year-old Adolfo Sanchez Torres.
An investigation revealed the fight actually started at Bea’s Tavern, a now-closed neighborhood bar that was popular among the Hispanic community. Police said the fight started there, and then spilled out into the parking lot. Torres was found next door in the fast food parking lot.
Sgt. Lehmkuhl said he couldn’t talk about what may have led up to the stabbing, but a suspect was identified as then-37-year-old Jesus Aaron Perelta.
“Law enforcement efforts since that time have been unsuccessful in locating that suspect,” said Lehmkuhl.
At the time Perelta was described as 5-feet-9-inches tall, about 200 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was known to use the nickname “Chewie” and today he would be 52 years old.
“People do change over time,” said Lehmkuhl. “They get heavier, lighter. They change their appearance, heightwise they stay about the same, but we put that out there because it may jog someone’s memory.”
Perelta is also wanted on arrest warrants related to charges for attempted first-degree murder and third-degree assault as a result of separate unrelated incidents, but one of those is a stabbing at the same establishment in the bathroom two years prior.
Lehmkuhl said CSPD has no idea where Perelta is now.
“We’ve tried since the issue of the arrest warrant to locate him and we have not located him,” he said.
He’s hoping someone can help and Perelta will have to answer for his alleged crimes.
“It could be a tiny tip of ‘hey, look here’, ‘he last called me on this phone number,’ Anything would work,” Lehmkuhl said. “Cases like this usually get resolved by somebody in the community that may know the person, or maybe they’ve seen them or heard something, knows a friend of a friend. It usually takes someone to come forward and provide a little piece of information.”
A second person was arrested in connection to Torres’ death- Sergio Javier Marin. He pleaded guilty to Accessory to Crime and was prosecuted through the court system.
Anyone with information on where Perelta may be is asked to call CSPD at (719) 444-7000. Tips can also be made anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (719) 634-7867.
