Jeffrey Aschenbrenner sentenced to life in prison for murdering girlfriend while she moved out

A 35-year-old Adams County man, Jeffrey Aschenbrenner, was sentenced last week to life behind bars for ambushing his girlfriend and her father as they moved her belongings out of the home she and Aschenbrenner shared. 

A judge sentenced Aschenbrenner on Thursday to life terms without parole on each of two counts first-degree murder and second-degree murder. 

Monica Medina and her father had loaded her belongings into his truck in November of 2021. They left the truck parked on a street near the home - near East 128th Avenue and Picadilly Street - while they drove to a gas station and quickly returned. When they arrived, Aschenbrenner was waiting for them in his own vehicle across the street from the truck, according to a press release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office. 

Aschenbrenner fired three shots at at Medina and her father, then pursued them as they drove off. Aschenbrenner fired additional shots into their car when he caught up with them. Medina was hit in the abdomen and died at a hospital. She was 43 years old. 

Aschenbrenner was arrested at his residence.

An Adams County jury found Aschenbrenner guilty of her murder, and the attempted murder of her father, in February. 

"This was a deplorable and cowardly crime," District Attorney Brian Mason stated after the jury's conviction. "The defendant's actions took a life and destroyed countless others."

Aschenbrenner is in the custody of the Colorado Department of Corrections for the second time. He was sentenced to two years in the state prison system in 2017 after pleading guilty to a felony menacing charge in Colorado Springs.