A Colorado Springs man has been sentenced to 76 years in prison for gunning down David Maffet on a residential Denver street last year, closing out a case that included a cross-state manhunt, a high-speed pursuit through rural Nebraska, and a crash that left one person dead in a ditch.
A Shooting on Vine Street
According to 9News, the shooting happened on March 8, 2025, in the 2900 block of South Vine Street in Denver, a few blocks west of South University Boulevard. Maffet, identified by 9News as 35 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Denver District Attorney’s Office said Augustine Vega, 36, shot and killed Maffet roughly two hours after robbing a convenience store on Colorado Boulevard, and police said the two men appeared to know each other.
Separately, the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner, as reported by Denver7, identified the homicide victim as David Maffett, 36, and determined his cause of death was a gunshot wound and the manner of death a homicide — an account that differs from 9News’ reporting of the victim’s name spelling and age. After the shooting, Vega drove for several hours before authorities caught up with him far outside Colorado.
A 25-Minute Chase Through Dawson County
Nebraska State Patrol troopers arrested Vega near Gothenburg on March 9, 2025, following a high-speed pursuit. Denver7 reported the pursuit began around 9:30 a.m. after a trooper spotted Vega’s Nissan Rogue on Interstate 80 in Dawson County, while ruralradio.com reported the chase started closer to 9:25 a.m. when a trooper attempted to stop the same vehicle. Either way, the pursuit stretched on for about 25 minutes along county roads before troopers deployed stop sticks, sending the SUV into a ditch, according to centralnebraskatoday.com.
Once the vehicle stopped, Vega and his female passenger refused to get out, and law enforcement ultimately found both of them unresponsive. Troopers administered Narcan to each of them before they were taken to hospitals. The passenger died at the hospital; her identity has not been released, per the same outlet’s reporting. Vega was flown to CHI Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, where he was treated and later released before being booked into the Dawson County Jail.
Weapon Recovered, No Shots Fired by Troopers
Denver7 reported that a gun was recovered from Vega’s SUV and that no law enforcement officers discharged their weapons during the incident. The Denver District Attorney’s Office credited the troopers for bringing Vega into custody without incident despite the lengthy chase.
Vega was arraigned in Dawson County Court on charges of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, with a judge setting bond at 10 percent of $250,000, the report states. He was extradited from Nebraska back to Colorado on March 20. The Nebraska case against him was later dismissed, and in Colorado he instead faced two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of second-degree burglary, according to ruralradio.com’s coverage of the extradition.
DA Credits Investigators and Crime Lab
Announcing the 76-year sentence, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said the outcome makes Denver safer by keeping Vega off the streets for decades. The office thanked its prosecutors, investigators and victim advocates, along with Denver Police Department Homicide Unit Detectives Daniel Andrews and Adam Bolton, for their work on the case, 9News reported.
The DA’s office also credited forensic scientist Nathan Von Rentzell of the Denver Crime Lab, saying his work helped secure a measure of justice for Maffet’s family and friends. Prosecutors separately acknowledged the bravery of the Nebraska State Patrol troopers whose pursuit ultimately brought the case to a close hundreds of miles from where the shooting happened.
