PUEBLO, Colo. (KOAA) — The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) has made an arrest in a homicide investigation that began in 2022.
On Friday, PCSO detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested 43-year-old Leon Pantoya for the murder of 39-year-old Steven Robinson.
Pantoya has been arrested on the following charges;
- First-degree Murder
- Theft
- Identity Theft
He's been booked into the Pueblo County Jail.
The investigation, led by Detective Vanessa Simpson, started on September 25, 2022, when the sheriff's office received a call that a property owner believed there were human remains buried in a shallow grave on one of his properties.
Forensic analysis confirmed that the remains were human, and an autopsy revealed that the person had died from blunt force and sharp force trauma. It was ruled a homicide.
Later that year, the unidentified man was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database. In March 2023, authorities were able to develop a DNA profile, but no matches were found.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) assisted in getting the victim's DNA submitted to a genetic genealogy database.
In 2024, PCSO found a DNA match with a relative, leading to the identification of Robinson.
Robinson was originally from South Caroline, but had moved to Pueblo in 2017.
PCSO detectives learned that Robinson and Pantoya had been living together at the time of Robinson's murder in early January 2022. Pantoya had told Robinson's friends and landlord that he had died of pneumonia on January 22, 2022.
The property where Robinson's remains were found was owned by one of Pantoya's relatives, according to the sheriff's office.
PCSO says that Pantoya had stolen more than $75,000 from Robinson's bank account, where Robinson's military disability payments were deposited for more than a year after his death.
“Detective Simpson has been dedicated and committed to solving this case for years, and, ironically, an arrest was made three years and a day since this investigation began. She worked tirelessly not only to identify the victim but also to investigate the homicide and identify a suspect. Bringing closure to this case is a testament to modern science and solid investigative police work.”
If you have information related to this investigation, you are asked to contact Detective Simpson at (719)583-6436.
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