8 Sept 25th-Oct 1St, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | different gun for the Denogean homicide. Over the course of a year, per the report, Frost homed in on Quintero, discovering that Quintero had worked at a local construction company located a half-mile from Feeney’s. He interviewed several of Quintero’s former co-workers, who described Quintero as being mentally disturbed and traumatized by “voices” in his head, with whom he would carry on long, one-sided conversations. One co-worker described him as “definitely a schizophrenic type,” another said Quintero confessed to having done “a lot of drugs” and to spending “three years in solitary confinement” while doing a prison stretch. Frost eventually confronted Quintero about the Denogean killing, to no avail. The report states that in December 2023, Quintero was transported from the Fourth Avenue Jail to Phoenix police headquarters, where Frost showed him a photo of Denogean and asked Quintero if he knew the man. Quintero denied knowing Denogean or being familiar with his name, telling Frost he didn’t want to answer any questions without an attorney present. Frost told Quintero that was OK. The detective proceeded to inform Quintero that Denogean “was a teacher and coach at one of the local high schools” and that the police had video of Quintero “the day after Thanksgiving 2022” stalking and killing Denogean, then running back to his car. “I also told Eddie that he was not getting charged with David’s murder right then,” but that he would be charged in the future, Frost wrote. The detective added that Quintero simply looked from the photo back to Frost, showing “no reaction.” As Frost gathered his things to leave, he said Quintero made a reference to the plea deal he had just inked with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, allowing him to cop to second-degree murder in the Patruno killing. He told Frost he’d just “signed for 25 years,” and asked “why I had waited so long to contact him.” Frost told Quintero that “murder investigations take a long time.” Ultimately, Frost wrote, all follow-up in the investigation had been completed. “Despite these investigative steps,” he wrote, “no suspect known or unknown has been scientifically linked to this case.” When contacted by New Times, a repre- sentative for the Denogean family was surprised to hear police had a suspect and said he had not seen the police report in question. He added that the family is still reviewing the report and had no comment at this time. A ‘heinous’ crime As Quintero mentioned to Frost, court records show that the office of Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell allowed Quintero to plead guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of misconduct involving weapons in return for a 25-year sentence with credit for time served. That’s despite past convictions for aggravated assault, burglary and other crimes, and despite Quintero having killed Patruno in cold blood while a prohibited possessor on parole. One law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity told New Times that police investigators begged Mitchell’s office to pressure Quintero to plead to the second homicide as part of any deal, but the county attorney told the cops to pound sand. Phoenix police spokesperson Rob Scherer told New Times via email that the current status of the Denogean case is “open,” adding that it has never been submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for charging. The county attorney’s office confirmed that but said it had no additional comment. Contacted for this story previously, the line prosecutor on the Patruno case, Manuel Desi Rubalcaba, declined to comment, saying only that he did not recall Quintero and was unaware of Denogean’s case. During his sentencing hearing, Quintero’s attorney and deputy public defender Adna Zeljkovic told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Chuck Whitehead, “I can’t say enough how awful Mr. Quintero feels.” She mentioned Quintero’s “serious mental health issues,” and avowed that “eventually, one day when he gets out, “he will work with his family” and “treatment providers in the community” to ensure that both he and the general public are safe. Quintero himself addressed the judge. “I just want to at least give my apologies to the family,” he said. “I’m remorseful. I just want to apologize to them. It’s something that was kind of like a mental health issue.” The plea deal apparently stuck in Whitehead’s craw. After imposing a 25-year sentence for the murder charge and a concurrent three-year sentence on the weapons violation, the judge announced that he’d had the “unfortunate opportunity” to view the video of the Patruno homicide. “I was almost going to reject the plea because of the heinous nature of what happened, the fact that it happened in broad daylight and the fact the victim in this case was truly an innocent victim,” he said. Quintero’s violent behavior has allegedly continued in prison. Online records from the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry indicate that Quintero has been found guilty of several infractions involving fighting, possession of a weapon and assault on staff. According to court records, Quintero currently faces three criminal counts of aggravated assault on a correctional employee. This story is part of the Arizona Watchdog Project, a yearlong reporting effort led by New Times and supported by the Trace Foundation, in partnership with Deep South Today. In the Dark from p 7 The late David Denogean. (Chris Chappell)
