Detectives testify at first day of hearings in Eagle County teen murder case

Editor’s note: This story was edited to correct Nefi Ezequiel Armijo Hernandez’s age at the time of his arrest; he was 16 years old, not 15.

A combination reverse-transfer and preliminary hearing for 17-year-old Nefi Ezequiel Armijo Hernandez — who was charged at 16 with first-degree murder — began Monday at the Eagle County Justice Center.

The 5th Judicial District charged Armijo Hernandez as an adult in the April 24, 2024, stabbing death of 14-year-old Jackson Davis. This week’s reverse transfer hearing will determine if he will continue to face charges as an adult or whether his case will be moved into juvenile court. The preliminary hearing will determine if there is sufficient evidence for Armijo Hernandez to stand trial for the charges levied against him, which also include second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and two charges of a violent crime involving death.

The hearings began with Judge Rachel J. Olguin-Fresquez considering sanctions against the prosecution, following a defense motion alleging a pattern of untimely discovery. Some of the discovery information came in quite late, including an autopsy revision, which the defense was only made aware of on Saturday. The defense asked the court to impose “whatever sanctions the court finds appropriate to deter any future discovery violations.”

But District Attorney Heidi McCollum countered that her office can’t disclose what hasn’t yet happened, and numerous pieces of discovery were filed as soon as that information was revealed to her office. The revised autopsy report, McCollum said, was the result of a typo that was only discovered last week, in which one of the two stab wounds that resulted in Davis’ death was described as being both one and one-sixteenth inches wide, and one and one-sixth inches wide. The autopsy was revised to eliminate the first description.

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Olguin-Fresquez agreed with McCollum and ruled against the motion to impose sanctions.

The remainder of the hearing centered around testimony from Detective Sgt. Jeff Waltz with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, the lead detective on the case, and Detective Jose Balderas with the Vail Police Department, who helped conduct interviews.

Making sense of videos from the crime scene

Waltz said he obtained two videos from the night of the stabbing. The videos were played in the courtroom, and involved groups of youths ages 12-16, Waltz said, with the kids divided into two opposing sides, which the court referred to as group one and group two.

Prior to the videos being recorded, detectives pieced together what they believe led to the brawl, starting with a phone call in which two individuals — neither Davis nor Armijo Hernandez — agreed to meet up for a fistfight.

Based on interviews, Waltz said he believes those traveling to the fight with Armijo Hernandez were not aware of any weapons.

“So there hadn’t been any type of discussion in the car about attacking group two with knives or weapons … it didn’t appear to be a premeditated thing?” Waltz was asked.

“Correct,” he responded.

The videos were analyzed by an outside agency, which color-coded individuals in the videos to provide clarity; however, “we can’t see in the videos exactly how it happened,” Waltz said.

“It’s chaos, kids are kicking, hitting, just trying to get up and run away,” he added. “At some point, you see Jackson getting up from the ground, walking away, he’s kind of hunched over, he looks like he’s injured.”

The defense established that Armijo Hernandez was holding a knife at some point; however, that knife “exchanged hands at least three times,” during and after the melee, Waltz said.

There was another knife present at the scene, which appeared in the pocket of a youth who was photographed by Davis about an hour before the fight, Waltz said. That same knife was later found near Davis’ body, Waltz said, but it was determined that it was not the murder weapon.

When the knife that officers believe was the murder weapon was ultimately seized, it was in the possession of another youth, not Armijo Hernandez, Waltz said.

But Waltz also said that the knife did not contain any fingerprints, and he is not aware of his office doing swabs to detect any blood residue. Waltz said he is not sure if the pocket in which the knife was held was tested for biological or serological fluid.

Waltz said the video does not show how Davis received the wounds, if they occurred as a result of a defensive gesture or a proactive attack, and the coroner was not able to make that determination either.

While much of Waltz’s testimony could be seen to cast doubt on Armijo Hernandez’s culpability in the first-degree murder charge, Balderas’ testimony revealed the key piece of evidence against him.

Balderas interviewed Armijo Hernandez the day after the brawl, and before his attorney arrived and shut down the interview, Armijo Hernandez discussed the knives involved in the melee.

Balderas, quoting Armijo Hernandez, said Armijo Hernandez described the knife found near Davis as “bigger than the one I used to hurt the kid from last night,” he said.

The court went on recess for the evening following Balderas’ testimony, and the hearings are expected to continue Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.