Editor’s note:KDNK Community Access Radio and Sol del Valle are collaborating on an investigative news series regarding the death of Ramon Chacon. This is the first part of that series, which has been made possible due to a grant from the Colorado Media Project.
Rifle resident Ramon Chacon, 42, died on April 29, 2024, after being struck by a vehicle on Highway 13, slightly north of the Rifle Bridge within city limits. Two years later, authorities still have not identified the vehicle or the driver, and the case remains unsolved.
According to three “urgent appeals for information” circulated on social media by the Rifle Police Department following the incident, “witnesses report[ed] [the vehicle] was last seen heading eastbound on I-70.” Authorities relayed that the suspected vehicle was possibly a silver, 2005 to 2010 model Jeep Grand Cherokee.
In an interview with KDNK and Sol del Valle, Chacon’s widow, Gabriela Gonzalez, recalled arriving at the scene.
“There was an ambulance and I think two police officers — two police cars. That’s all I remember,” she said. “But I’ll never forget this: As I was arriving and getting closer, I saw his boot.”
According to Gonzalez, family and friends knew Chacon as “El Cubano,” a nickname he earned because he frequently wore Cuban-heeled boots.
In April 2024, the stop lights connecting White River Avenue, Highway 6 and the Interstate 70 Business Loop — the intersection north of the bridge — were under construction.
It had been a notoriously dangerous intersection before the stop lights were installed. Eight collisions occurred there between 2018 and 2023, resulting in injuries and property damage. Since then, a flashing pedestrian crossing has also been installed.
Chacon’s body was found south of this intersection. According to the Garfield County Coroner’s report, when investigators examined Chacon’s body, after arriving on-scene at 5:40am, he was “supine in the left northbound lane.”
The Coroner’s report listed the manner of death as an accident and the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries.
Witnesses and toxicology
According to a Rifle Police incident report obtained through an open records request, witnesses saw what appeared to be a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee hit Chacon and drive away.
On May 5, 2026, Rifle Police responded to KDNK’s most recent records request for witness statements with a letter of denial, stating, “It would be contrary to public interest to release investigation details which could jeopardize the investigation and/or subsequent prosecution,” citing C.R.S. 24-72-305(5).
KDNK and Sol del Valle attempted to contact one of the witnesses, but they declined to comment.
The autopsy report revealed that a femoral blood exam indicated an ethanol concentration of 0.242%. “The femoral blood also showed the presence of caffeine,” the report continued. “The urine showed the presence of benzoylecgonine (not detected in the blood).”
According to the National Library of Medicine website, “Benzoylecgonine is the major metabolite of cocaine.” Garfield County Coroner Robert Glassmire relayed to KDNK that “[Benzoylecgonine] can remain in the urine longer than it usually does in the blood. If it is present in the urine but not in the blood that would be evidence suggesting the person used cocaine several hours to two or three days before they died, as opposed to right before they died.”
Desperate for answers
“I kept hoping he would get up … because your whole world collapses,” Gonzalez said. “Even when I saw him lying there, I didn’t lose hope that he would survive, although, in my heart, I felt he wasn’t going to get back up.”
Before his death, Chacon had what his wife described as “a normal day.” He ate breakfast at home, spent time with his daughters and later went to the Rifle Fairgrounds, where he often spent time with friends and working horses.
The evening before the incident, Gonzalez said she, her daughters and Chacon had dinner with his friends at Mi Lindo Nayarit, then located at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Ninth Street in the space now occupied by Taquería Cuauhtémoc.
“When we left, he stayed at the restaurant and we went home,” Gonzalez recalled. “My daughter forgot to give her dad his phone back, and he forgot to ask for it.”
Gonzalez said she received a call from him during the early morning hours of April 29, 2024, from a phone at the Kum & Go gas station (now Maverik), located at the corner of Highway 6 and Railroad Avenue.
With tears in her eyes, Gonzalez said their daughters, now 9 and 6 years old, share many of their father’s traits.
“My little girl’s expressions, and also my older daughter — how stubborn and hardheaded she is,” she said. “That’s exactly how her dad was, very stubborn, very hardheaded.”
Gonzalez added, “My daughters are suffering, I’m suffering, my family is suffering … It still hurts.”
Jessica Gonzalez, Gabriela’s sister-in-law, described Chacon as someone who was always willing to help others.
“He was a very good person. He never said no. If someone told him, ‘Hey, I need help with my horse,’ he would go,” Jessica said. “It didn’t matter. He’d even help for free.”
Frustrated by the lack of answers in the investigation, Jessica criticized the handling of the case.
“It feels like everything is still the same, like we still don’t have answers,” she said. “It’s frustrating. It makes you angry. It makes you angry that they want to set this aside. He was a human being. He was a father, a husband, a son. And we are suffering deeply.”
Lieutenant Mike Kuper with the Rifle Police Department responded to an interview request from KDNK and Sol del Valle in April 2026, stating that the agency could not comment on active cases.
Among the many unanswered questions, Gabriela said that her daughters are still just trying to understand what happened.
“My daughters miss him terribly, and they always will,” she said. “They ask, ‘Why? Why did this happen to my dad?’ and you wish you had all the answers.”
Jessica also questioned the actions of the person responsible.
“Why didn’t they stop to give him first aid? Why did they do it?”
On May 21, Rifle Police Department Public Information Officer Angela Mills stated that the case is considered “closed inactive,” meaning, she said, “It can be reopened at any time should new information or evidence come to light. So this case still has potential to go to a jury trial.”
Information regarding the case can be directed to the Rifle Police Department at 970-625-8095, where callers may request to speak with a detective. Tips or comments related to this story can be sent to info@soldelvalle.org
This is the first installment in an investigative reporting series by KDNK and Sol del Valle regarding an unresolved case.