A man was sentenced to 48 years in prison Monday for the 2020 murder of a Denver guitarist.
A Denver jury convicted 48-year-old Patrick Apostol of second-degree murder in June, after police tied him to the death of 31-year-old Zackary Smith.
Smith, a Denver guitarist, was found dead in a rolled-over car in an alley near Quince Street and East 17th Avenue in the East Colfax neighborhood. He had been shot in the head.
The case went unsolved until 2023, when Lakewood police received a “community tip” and arrested Apostol.
Officers had interviewed Apostol, who lived in the area, on the day of the crash. The black robe he was wearing during that conversation later tested positive for gunshot residue, and Apostol deleted text messages from right after the shooting, according to an arrest affidavit.
Investigators later uncovered that Smith had been in a relationship with Apostol’s then-girlfriend, according to an article from Westword magazine.
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“(Smith’s) murder on a September night over five years ago was a terrible tragedy, for everyone who knew him and loved him both in Denver and beyond,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a video statement after Apostol was convicted.
Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy Award-winning bluegrass performer Billy Strings, whose legal name is William Lee Apostol. After a Westword article made that connection public, Strings commented on a Facebook post of the article, saying he didn’t have much of a relationship with the man.
“He is my half-brother, much older. I met him when I was like 12 years old, and I went to Florida to meet my dad’s side of the family. We didn’t grow up together. I’ve probably seen him 50 times in my entire life,” he wrote.
Apostol had reportedly used his connection to Strings as part of his defense, according to the Westword article.
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