Secrets of Gang-Related Murder Charges Against the Rodarte Brothers

The Denver District Attorney's Office announced this week that a grand jury had indicted brothers Sergio Rodarte Jr., 24, and Andrew Rodarte, 23, for the reportedly gang-related murders of 20-year-old Mariceo "Marz" Negrete and 22-year-old Josiah Salas in May 2021. But much about the case, and the reason it's suddenly making news, remains secret.

Westword included the killings of Negrete and Salas in a post about the first 100 gun deaths of 2021. But beyond that item and a few briefs from local media outlets, the slayings received little public notice — and the same was true of the Denver Police Department's announcement in June 2021 that Sergio Rodarte had been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the incident. The DPD made no mention of Andrew Rodarte at the time, however, and more than a year of silence about the case followed before the October 18 announcement.

Even now, the DA's office is closely guarding information about the crimes. Spokesperson Carolyn Tyler says the Rodartes' arrest affidavits are sealed and declines further comment because "this matter is now pending before the court." The indictment itself is the only document that's been publicly shared, and it leaves plenty of questions unaddressed.

The earliest reference to both brothers currently accessible online is a public notice about a Douglas County court date to determine if they were victims of neglect; it appeared in the Parker Chronicle and the Highlands Ranch Herald in September 2013, when they were still juveniles. But the indictment contains a list of previous run-ins with the law to support eight of the twelve charges against them — the ones pertaining to possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

According to the affidavit, Andrew was convicted of vehicular eluding in 2015 and felony escape in January 2017. Sergio was convicted of second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury and second-degree assault causing injury with a deadly weapon in 2019. In addition, "on or about April 17 or April 18, 2021, Sergio and Andrew and various members of OTF" — Only The Family, identified as a Denver-based gang — "were present at Barnum Park.... While at the park, Sergio and Andrew posed for pictures holding firearms in various stances."

The four most serious accusations against the Rodartes pertain to two counts each of first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree murder-extreme indifference. Supporting them is a narrative section that begins on May 1, 2021, at a house party at a single-family residence on North Odessa Street, where Negrete, Salas and the Rodartes were among approximately fifty people gathered there. The indictment contends that the brothers both carried semi-automatic weapons "equipped with lights and/or lasers."

The indictment identifies Negrete as a member of another Denver gang, CHI 30, which allegedly "had an ongoing conflict with OTF members that spanned months before May 1, 2021." When the Rodartes heard Negrete was on the back patio of the house, "they both put on blue hospital gloves, Sergio put on a surgical mask and pulled up his hoodie, and Andrew pulled his hoodie on so tightly that his face was barely visible."

Shortly thereafter, according to the affidavit, the Rodartes got into a verbal argument with Negrete that prompted both of them to pull out their firearms, and after blocking the patio door "so that no one could enter or leave," Sergio fired eight times, striking Negrete and Salas in the back, among other places.

Given the straightforward nature of this account, it's unclear why nearly eighteen months passed between the killings and the indictments, particularly since Sergio Rodarte was taken into custody mere weeks after the crime — and answers won't be immediately forthcoming. The Rodartes aren't scheduled to appear in court until December 9, and the subject is a bond hearing at which additional details are unlikely to be shared.

Click to read the indictment of Sergio and Andrew Rodarte.