A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for two stabbing murders in Belmar Park in 2019, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Vicente Enrique Orozco was convicted by a Jefferson County jury of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of felony murder and two counts of aggravated robbery on March 10, before being sentenced Friday.
Orozco was found guilty of stabbing 19-year-old Rodriguez Rivera multiple times on Aug. 15, 2019, in the Lakewood park. Rivera was playing soccer with a friend in Belmar Park when he was attacked, the DA’s office said.
The body of 61-year-old Stevan Sandvick was found near the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in the park later in the morning, showing the victim had also been stabbed multiple times and robbed.
Sandvick was pronounced dead on the scene, while Rivera was taken to a hospital, where he died five days later.
Days later based on an anonymous tip, police identified Orozco, then 19, as a suspect and arrested him on Aug. 21, 2019.
During the sentencing, the Rivera family described the late teen as a “beautiful kid” with a future ahead of him, the DA’s office said.
Sandvick’s family said he was “a father and husband that will be missed very much,” the office said.
Orozco received 15 years in prison for the robberies in addition to the two consecutive life sentences.
“Today we see justice for the tragedy that took two innocent, random victims from the years ahead of them, their community and their families,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Adam Hepp said.
