Preliminary hearing set for accused Glenwood murderer

Gustavo Olivo-Tellez, facing a first-degree murder charge in the October shooting death of his ex, has been scheduled for a preliminary hearing, despite a hefty load of paperwork for his defense.

The 27-year-old Olivo-Tellez was arrested in Grand Junction Oct. 8 as a suspect in the slaying of Blanca Salas-Jurado, the mother of Olivo-Tellez’s 3-year-old son. She died of multiple gunshot wounds.

His girlfriend, Michelle Castillo, was arrested with him as an accessory to the crime. Prosecutors say she purchased the ammunition used in the homicide earlier in the day and waited for him at a restaurant during the shooting.

After the slaying, the two suspects traveled with the child to Grand Junction and told Olivo-Tellez’s brother and his brother’s wife about the killing, according to sheriff’s reports.

The following week, investigators found in the Roaring Fork River at Veltus Park the gun believed to have been used in the crime.

It was the first Garfield County homicide in 2016. The sheriff’s office called it “a case of extreme domestic violence.”

In district court Thursday, Olivo-Tellez’s attorney, Garth McCarty, argued against setting the preliminary hearing, as the defense had received about 14,000 pages in discovery and needed more time to prepare for the complex and serious case.

The defense also wanted to wait for any other forensic testing and said that much information concerning probable cause hasn’t been accessible, District Attorney Jeff Cheney said via email.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Barrett argued that a preliminary hearing is primarily to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a crime.

Judge John Neiley scheduled Olivo-Tellez’s preliminary hearing for March 31. Castillo has already been set for a jury trial, starting May 1.