Man told landlord roommate died of pneumonia in 2022, CO cops say. He’s arrested
An arrest has been made three years after a man’s remains were found buried in a shallow grave, Colorado deputies say.
A 43-year-old Pueblo man was arrested on a count of first-degree murder in connection with the 2022 death of his roommate Steven Robinson, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sept. 26 news release.
McClatchy News is not naming the man as he has not been formally charged.
Remains found in shallow grave
A property owner called the sheriff’s office Sept. 25, 2022, after stumbling upon remains in a shallow grave, which forensic testing later confirmed to be human, deputies said.
Through an autopsy, deputies said they learned the man died from “blunt force and sharp force trauma,” and his death was ruled a homicide.
The man’s case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database, deputies said.
NamUs, a “national repository for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases,” serves as a resource for “law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, and investigating professionals,” according to the program’s website.
No matches were found; however, some leads did surface, according to the sheriff’s office.
A DNA profile was created in 2023 but still no matches were found, deputies said.
After a forensic artist created a reconstructed image of the unidentified man, deputies said they shared it with the public, but few leads developed.
Genetic genealogy to ID
With help from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, deputies said they looked to investigative genetic genealogy in hopes of identifying the man.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
The man’s DNA sample was sent to Othram Inc., where scientists used forensic-grade genome sequencing to create a DNA profile for the man, the company said in a news release.
This profile was sent to CBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team, which used it to create new leads in the case, the company said.
In 2024, the investigation led detectives to identify the man as Robinson, who was originally from South Carolina but had lived in Pueblo since 2017, deputies said.
Deputies said they learned Robinson had a roommate at the time of his death.
The roommate told Robinson’s friends and landlord that Robinson had died of pneumonia in late January 2022, deputies said.
The property where Robinson’s remains were buried was owned by one of the roommate’s family members, according to deputies.
Investigators also determined the roommate “had withdrawn more than $75,000 from Robinson’s bank account, where Robinson’s military disability payments continued to be deposited for more than a year after his death,” the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff David J. Lucero praised Detective Vanessa Simpson, who headed the three-year long investigation.
“(Simpson) worked tirelessly not only to identify the victim but also to investigate the homicide and identify a suspect,” Lucero said in the release. “Bringing closure to this case is a testament to modern science and solid investigative police work.”
In addition to first-degree murder, the man was also arrested on counts of identity theft and theft, deputies said.
Pueblo is about a 110-mile drive south from Denver.
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Man told landlord roommate died of pneumonia in 2022, CO cops say. He’s arrested."
