DENVER — A woman accused of providing the gun used to kill Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements will not stand trial until Dec. 16, but evidence emerged Monday that she may agree to plead guilty before then.
Stevie Vigil, 22, is accused of buying the 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun that was found after felon Evan Ebel died in a shootout with Texas police on March 21. Law enforcement across several states were pursuing Ebel as the prime suspect in the shooting deaths of Clements and pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon earlier in March.
FOX31 Denver confirmed Monday that there have been some negotiations between Vigil’s lawyer and federal prosecutors, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hosley told U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello that there could be a resolution in the case before the new Dec. 16 trial date. He also said a hearing allowing Vigil to change her plea may be needed.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigations found that Vigil bought the gun from High Plains Arms, a licensed dealer, on South Broadway in Englewood and then gave it to Ebel. As a convicted felon, Ebel could not legally own guns.
Investigators believe Ebel then used the gun to kill Leon so he could steal his Dominos pizza uniform. He then posed as a delivery driver and drove to Clements’s Monument home, where he shot and killed the DOC director as he opened his front door, police said. Ebel then fled before police eventually caught up to him in Texas.
Ballistics evidence links the 9mm to both the Clements and Leon killings. Texas authorities also found a pizza uniform and delivery box in Ebel’s car after the shootout. Ebel also had handwritten directions to the prison chief’s house in his car.