DENVER (KDVR) A Colorado mother who made headlines last year for starting an in-home cake business to pay for her son’s headstone is now facing another unimaginable loss.
Angela Hernandez’s younger son, Vincent Chacon, was killed while in custody at the Denver Downtown Detention Center. According to Hernandez, the family was told Chacon had been released, only to learn days later that he had died in custody.
“We received a text from Denver County Saturday saying they had released him,” she said. “Monday morning, they said they didn’t have him there. Then Tuesday morning, the coroner called to tell me he had passed.”
Denver police say the suspect is 43-year-old Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith, who has a lengthy criminal history, including prior arrests for assault and domestic violence. Hernandez says her son, who was being held on a traffic charge, should never have been placed in the same unit.
“They need to be accountable for putting him in the same cell. Within three hours, he ends up dead,” she said.
The incident is now being investigated as a homicide. The Denver Sheriff Department has not yet commented on how Chacon and Smith came to be housed together.
Hernandez is now planning another funeral and demanding accountability from the jail.
“I just want justice for my son,” she said.
affiliate KDVR reached out to the Denver County Sheriff’s Department for more information.
