A Wheat Ridge driver is headed to state prison after a high-speed crash on Kipling Street killed a well-known local business owner and seriously injured another man, capping an investigation that started with reports of erratic driving and ended in a deadly collision at West 44th Avenue.
According to a post by the Wheat Ridge Police Department, 54-year-old John David Bormolini pleaded guilty in December 2025 to reckless vehicular homicide and vehicular assault and was sentenced on Feb. 27 to six years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Police identified the man who died as Nate Oettinger, the owner of Auto Weave Upholstery, and said passenger Dennis Dillman suffered multiple fractures to his spine, nerve damage, head lacerations and a brain bleed and is still in physical therapy.
Investigators say the crash unfolded just after 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2024, when Bormolini’s black Toyota Tundra slammed into a red Ram 1500 that was stopped in the turn lane at West 44th Avenue and Kipling Street. The driver of the Ram was pronounced dead at the scene, and a passenger was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Surveillance video and data from the vehicles showed that the Tundra was moving at least 78 mph in a 40 mph zone and had been weaving through traffic in the minutes before impact, according to Denver7.
“We will hold reckless drivers accountable,” Wheat Ridge Police Chief Chris Murtha wrote in the department’s Facebook post, a line that struck a nerve with residents following the crash. In the same post, Holly Spease called the collision “not an unavoidable accident” and argued that “a prison sentence is essential to protect the public.” Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Victim and community reaction
Oettinger was a familiar name in Denver’s auto-upholstery world. An industry obituary notes he had worked at Auto Weave Upholstery since the early 1990s, making him a decades-long fixture in the trade. After his death was confirmed, customers and colleagues posted condolences online, underscoring how far the loss rippled beyond the crash scene, as per The Hog Ring.
Legal context
Under Colorado law, reckless vehicular homicide is a class 4 felony with a presumptive sentencing range that can include roughly two to six years in prison, while DUI-based vehicular homicide carries steeper penalties. Judges can weigh community-based sanctions depending on the circumstances, but the statute allows courts to hand down a Department of Corrections sentence within that range, according to Colorado Revised Statutes.
Bormolini’s plea and sentence close out the criminal case, but the fallout from the crash is still playing out for Oettinger’s family and for Dillman as he continues his recovery. Court records and filings from prosecutors will spell out any remaining restitution orders, probation conditions or related civil actions tied to the wreck.
