Inmate Homicide At Arapahoe County Detention Facility Is First In Decades
CENTENNIAL, Colo. - Officials are conducting a homicide investigation at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility after an inmate reportedly killed another.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office says it's not unusual for inmates to fight, and there's at least one fight at the facility every week. However, a homicide hasn't happened at the jail in decades.
Eric Stewart of Aurora was awaiting trial on several charges, including attempted murder. He is now being held on the additional charge of first degree murder after reportedly killing 43-year-old Michael Roy Craven Jr. of Englewood.
Officers say no weapons were used in the homicide Saturday morning.
"The assault lasted 45 seconds and was over before deputies were able to intervene. 45 seconds between the beginning of the assault until it was over," said Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office's Julie Brooks.
Craven had been at the detention facility since August 2014 for second degree assault with a deadly weapon. His mugshot has yet to be released.
The sheriff's office believes the confrontation between Stewart and Craven began in Stewart's cell on the upper tier of a housing unit, and then spilled out onto the upper walkway.
"We are not aware of any history between the two, they had been housed in the same housing unit since December of 2014," Brooks said.
It is not known if any inmates tried to stop the assault. Veterans of the detention facility believe this homicide is the first at the new facility in Centennial since it opened in 1987.
"It is a rare event. To our knowledge we have not had another inmate on inmate homicide at the detention facility," Brooks said.
The sheriff's office is not discussing what will be done with Stewart or if he has lost privileges. Charges and a first court appearance may come by midweek.
