A 39-year-old Aurora man is in custody in Jefferson County for a Dec. 26 burglary at the same store where beloved Aurora businessman Peter Arguello was killed during a robbery on Nov. 29.
Police were already tracking 39-year-old Charles Robinson Shay in a stolen Polestar vehicle, which they say showed up outside Peter Damien Fine Jewelry and Antiques around 5 a.m. on Dec. 26, when it’s believed a burglar tried to break in.
The store was empty, having been cleared out after the killing of store owner Peter Arguello.
A police affidavit filed for the burglary and motor vehicle theft shows investigators have been interested in Shay since a crime lab report on Dec. 8 showed that DNA found on flex cuffs used at the time of the killing of Arguello was a match to Shay.
Shay has a criminal record that includes arrests in Colorado for theft, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and DUI.
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Flex cuffs are restraints of the type used by police for mass arrests during civil disturbances. The affidavit shows when thieves attempted to rob the store of valuable coins in November, a detective noted that surveillance video showed Arguello was shot as one of the robbers tried to put the flew cuffs on him. The cuffs, looped together with a latex glove, were found on the floor.
Two people in ball caps were seen leaving the store in a red pickup truck that turned out to be stolen. That truck was later found partially burned in the early morning hours of Dec. 1, outside a tire store at Smoky Hill and Buckley Roads in Centennial.
The affidavit says a traffic camera shows another white pickup followed the truck to the area that morning. It was a truck belonging to a woman linked to Shay.
Police indicate outside Shay’s Aurora home they spotted a Polestar vehicle, later identified as stolen. They sought permission to track it and after getting court approval put a tracker on the car.
The affidavit indicates the vehicle showed up outside the Peter Damien store early on Dec. 26, when the break-in occurred. A warrant sought the next day led to Shay’s arrest.
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The affidavit indicates Shay admitted to prying open the rear door and breaking into the business on Dec. 26, but didn’t take anything, saying nothing was there.
He claimed he had heard of the homicide and claimed the burglary was a crime of opportunity. When he was told that his DNA matched that found on the flex cuffs, he “stopped talking,” said the affidavit.
Shay is currently being held in the Jefferson County Jail of aggravated motor vehicle theft and second-degree burglary, but he has not been charged in the killing of Peter Arguello.
There is no information from Wheat Ridge police on how many people may have been involved in the robbery and murder, but two ball caps, which they say look like those seen on surveillance video from the store, were found in the back of the burned pickup. The fire department is only a short distance from where the truck was set ablaze.
The ball caps were only partially burned.
