Colorado man with 61 arrests now faces murder charge

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Over 30 years, James “Jaime” Benavidez racked up 61 arrests, 31 guilty pleas – nine of them felonies – and seven accusations that he had disappeared after being released on parole.

But on June 24, 2024, after completing his most recent stint behind bars, he was released.

Now Benavidez, 50, faces 24 felony counts. He’s accused of murdering a pregnant woman, firing a gun during an attempted carjacking, stealing another vehicle and shooting multiple rounds at police officers.

If he’s convicted of the most serious charge – first-degree murder for shooting and killing Keeley Koff, 32 – he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

In all, records obtained by 9NEWS Investigates show that Benavidez spent about 20 of the past 30 years in state prison or a county jail.

“Once a sentence is discharged, the term of imprisonment has been served, the time of parole is served, that individual becomes a free person,” said 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson. “But this case illustrates why there are some people who simply can’t live in the community.”

Benavidez is accused of a series of crimes in Brighton that unfolded over a 12-hour period on Aug. 28:

• Shooting Koff and leaving her body in a stolen pickup truck that he abandoned around 2 a.m. that day in the 200 block of North 6th Avenue.
• Trying to steal a car at a filling station at the intersection of Bromley Lane and Fulton Avenue, firing a gun in the process and then fleeing.
• Speeding off with a friend’s car after she stopped at a business in the 100 block of West Bridge Street and left him in the passenger seat.
• Firing at least five shots at a Brighton Police officer who tried to stop the man in the 10700 block of Brighton Road.
• Leading police on a pursuit – swerving at one point in what appeared to be an effort to hit an officer on a motorcycle and at another point driving head-on toward an oncoming patrol car – before returning to the 10700 block of Brighton Road, stopping the stolen car, and surrendering.

Court documents and prison records obtained by 9NEWS Investigates show that Benavidez was arrested at least once as a juvenile. As an adult, he was arrested on charges ranging from assault, drunken driving and resisting arrest to auto theft, drug possession and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

Those records show that in every single case, he pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors.

In his most recent crime, Benavidez pleaded guilty to vehicular eluding in Weld County in 2024. The judge in that case sentenced him to three years of probation.