{"id":1559,"date":"2026-06-12T21:06:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:06:41","slug":"denver-jury-convicts-half-brother-of-musician-billy-strings-in-2020-killing-of-denver-guitarist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559","title":{"rendered":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><strong>Getting your Trinity Audio player ready&#8230;<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A Denver jury convicted a man of second-degree murder this week in the 2020 killing of Denver guitarist Zackary Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1558\">The Honda Prelude makes a strong impression<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Smith 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.<\/p>\n<p>For three years, the case went unsolved. Then in 2023, following a \u201ccommunity tip,\u201d Lakewood Police arrested Patrick Apostol, who was 45 at the time, and he was charged in the homicide.<\/p>\n<p>Officers had interviewed Apostol, who lived in the area of the crash, on the day of the incident. Later, the black robe he was wearing during that conversation tested positive for gunshot residue.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators later uncovered that Smith, who was 31 at the time, had been in a relationship with Apostol\u2019s then-girlfriend, according to an article from Westword magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1556\">Crews gain containment on Spring Creek fire north of Aspen, evacuations still in place<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Smith\u2019s) 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. It was a night when the music died,\u201d said Denver District Attorney John Walsh in a video statement.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t have much of a relationship with the man.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe 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\u2019s side of the family. We didn\u2019t grow up together. I\u2019ve probably seen him 50 times in my entire life,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Apostol had reportedly used his connection to Strings as part of his defense, according to the Westword article.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1555\">Judge rules Trump can stage UFC fights on White House\u2019s South Lawn this weekend<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Apostol will be sentenced Sept. 14.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Denver jury convicted Patrick Aposto of second-degree murder this week in the 2020 killing of Denver guitarist Zackary Smith. Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy-award-winning bluegrass performer Billy Strings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colorado-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Denver jury convicted Patrick Aposto of second-degree murder this week in the 2020 killing of Denver guitarist Zackary Smith. Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy-award-winning bluegrass performer Billy Strings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Springs Moverss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c\"},\"headline\":\"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559\"},\"wordCount\":374,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Colorado News\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559\",\"name\":\"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?p=1559#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colorado Springs Moverss\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss","og_description":"A Denver jury convicted Patrick Aposto of second-degree murder this week in the 2020 killing of Denver guitarist Zackary Smith. Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy-award-winning bluegrass performer Billy Strings","og_url":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559","og_site_name":"Colorado Springs Moverss","article_published_time":"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c"},"headline":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist","datePublished":"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559"},"wordCount":374,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp","articleSection":["Colorado News","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559","url":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559","name":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist - Colorado Springs Moverss","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-12T21:06:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9a02feddd95b497f564445a57d11990d.webp","width":960,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1559#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Denver jury convicts half-brother of musician Billy Strings in 2020 killing of Denver guitarist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/","name":"Colorado Springs Moverss","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4857af3bff7f66cee0c97667a8e70c1c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com"],"url":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}