The Mesa County District Attorney has charged a 28-year-old man with criminally negligent homicide in connection with his pregnant common-law wife’s shooting death.
The Grand Junction Sentinel reports Alexander Patrick Fedak faces from six months to 8 years in prison if convicted of the charge.
Authorities say Shandie Case, 25, who was 6 months pregnant, was shot in the head on Nov. 6 when Fedak fired shots during a dispute over a truck, the Daily Sentinel reported.
The dispute arose when Mesa County woman Jordan Shaw rented a truck from Fedak and Case, the Daily Sentinel reported using details from the arrest affidavit. Shaw told investigators she rented the truck for a single day on Nov. 1, then decided she wanted to buy it. She claimed she made plans with the couple to rent it for a full week before purchasing the truck. Five days later, on Nov. 6, Fedak and Case filed a report that the truck was stolen after they still weren’t paid, the affidavit said.
While Shaw told investigators she had made arrangements for Mesa County sheriff’s deputies to accompany her to return the truck in the evening, she said Fedak and Case confronted her in the afternoon while she was driving with Joseph Anthony Manzanarez Jr.
Although authorities originally described the confrontation as a gun battle, investigators now believe Manzanarez, who was armed with an AK-47, didn’t fire any shots. He is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond in connection with charges of menacing and weapons violations, the Daily Sentinel reports.
