Colorado man convicted in co-worker's strangulation death

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — A man who got drunk and strangled his co-worker to death was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison, according to the 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

A Summit County jury found Miles Fernando Tovar, 40, guilty in March of manslaughter and first-degree criminal trespass in the Nov. 6, 2019, killing of Brendan Rye in Breckenridge.

During sentencing, the judge highlighted Tovar's history of alcohol-related violence over the past 20 years. She sentenced him to 12 years in prison for manslaughter and two years in prison for trespassing, to be served consecutively. He received 598 days of credit for time already served.

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Tovar, Rye and another person were contractors who were temporarily living in a Breckenridge condominium that they were renovating. The owner of the unit lived nearby and invited the men to dinner as a thank you. Tovar got drunk and the apartment owner asked him to leave. Tovar returned several times and Rye intervened several times to keep Tovar away, the prosecutor's office said.

Tovar then went to Rye's room to have “man talk.” It ended with Tovar being shot in the leg and Rye found unconscious and not breathing in a bathroom. Rye was later pronounced deceased and his death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.

An arrest warrant was issued for Tovar in this case in February 2022. He ultimately surrendered to U.S. Marshals in Connecticut in October 2022 and was later extradited to Colorado.

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