Fort Collins man hit on I-25 near Mead arrested on suspicion of murder

A Fort Collins man hit by a vehicle on Interstate 25 near Mead while fleeing from police earlier this month was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the shooting death and burning of a Greeley resident.

Isaac Valdez-Salvador, 32, was identified as a suspect after the Poudre Canyon Volunteer Fire Department found the body of “an obviously deceased person” on fire under a bridge at the Stevens Gulch picnic area off of Colorado 14 in the early hours of April 11, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

The man’s body was later identified as Gerardo Hernandez Lucio, 49, and the coroner’s office ruled his death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the head.

Valdez-Salvador was identified as a suspect through additional information and forensic evidence, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Wednesday.

Investigators believe Valdez-Salvador and a second suspect, 37-year-old Juana Espino of Evans, knew Lucio and killed him several days before setting his body on fire, according to the agency.

Larimer County sheriff’s deputies tried to contact Valdez-Salvador in Loveland on April 14, but he sped away at over 100 mph, passing vehicles on the shoulder and hitting traffic cones in construction areas as he fled.

He stopped on I-25 near Mead because of a flat tire, got out of the car with a gun and ran across the highway. After jumping the median, he was hit by a northbound vehicle and seriously injured.

Valdez-Salvador is recovering at a hospital and will be booked into the Weld County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, tampering with a body, motor vehicle theft, eluding and tampering with evidence, all felonies, according to the sheriff’s office.

Espino was arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and a weapons charge, all felonies.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the case can contact Investigator Ryan Gebhardt at 970-498-5586.

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