Police identified, never charged suspect in 2022 teacher killing

On Nov. 25, 2022, David Denogean was listening to a podcast and walking his white Labrador mix, Evie, near the apartment he shared with his girlfriend in Phoenix. Suddenly, without any apparent provocation, an unknown man ran up from behind and shot Denogean several times outside Feeney’s Restaurant & Bar near 12th Street and Maryland Avenue.

Denogean was rushed to HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

The death of the 30-year-old Camelback High School teacher, track coach and ex-Rebel Lounge security guard alarmed and outraged many in the community, particularly since it occurred in a heavily trafficked and relatively safe part of Phoenix. Despite the existence of several eyewitnesses, some of whom observed the killing as they sat on Feeney's patio, as well as a $20,000 reward and the release of a video clip showing the purported shooter, the killing remains officially unsolved.

Since his brazen early-evening shooting death nearly three years ago, the Phoenix Police Department has remained tight-lipped about the murder of the 6-foot-4, 240-pound video game aficionado. But a police incident report for the Denogean killing obtained via public records request suggests that homicide detectives identified a suspect in the killing two years ago — a man who was already in custody and charged with an eerily similar homicide that occurred just one day after Denogean's.

That suspect is 32-year-old Eduardo Quintero, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for the unprovoked slaying of 57-year-old Joseph Patruno at a 76 gas station near Cave Creek and Bell roads on Nov. 26, 2022. Quintero, a career criminal with a string of felony convictions to his name, was booked into jail on first-degree murder shortly after he apparently randomly selected Patruno as his victim and unloaded a .38 caliber revolver into him.

According to the police report for the gas station slaughter, Quintero shot Patruno — a commercial painter and musician who grew up in Phoenix and lived in a nearby apartment — point-blank while Patruno was gassing up his truck. Quintero then walked around the rear of the vehicle, shot Patruno several more times, laid his weapon down, threw his hands up in the air and awaited the arrival of the police, who ultimately arrested him without incident.

As an officer placed him in the back of his patrol vehicle, Quintero told the cop, "I don't know why this happened, dog, I'm sorry," adding, "Satan is evil."

A homicide lieutenant at the scene noted the parallel to Denogean's killing less than 24 hours earlier and passed the observation to the detective investigating the Denogean murder. According to the incident report on Denogean's death, lead investigator Det. Adam Frost believed Quintero stalked and killed Denogean. Despite that, Quintero has not been charged with that killing.

Records show Frost drew up a list of parallels between the Patruno and Denogean homicides, including the arbitrariness of the killings and the fact that in both cases, the shooter approached the victims in the same way: immediately firing on them and continuing to do so after they fell "until he expended all ammunition." Frost also noted similarities in the physical characteristics of the victims and the shooters.

Hearing voices

Frost wrote that his suspicions were aroused by video of a four-door sedan supposedly used by the perpetrator in both crimes.

In the report, Frost wrote that the sedan made a "sudden U-turn" while Denogean was walking past, with surveillance videos eventually showing the killer on foot as he followed Denogean north on 12th Street. As Denogean began to pass in front of Feeney's, the suspect "ran a wide arc out into the street," circled back in front of Denogean, "raised his right arm toward the victim" and began shooting. Denogean fell "and could be heard screaming," Frost wrote. The suspect "continued to fire the handgun as he stood over him." At one point, "the suspect appeared to leave the scene only to return and fire several more times at the victim."

The shooter then fled south, ultimately overtaking Denogean's dog, who was running in the same direction. The videos show the sedan leaving the scene shortly thereafter. Frost was ultimately unable to prove that the car used by Quintero in the Patruno killing was the same as the one Frost saw in surveillance videos of Denogean's demise.

The gun used in the Patruno killing, a stolen five-round revolver with the serial number filed off, was confiscated by police at the gas station after Patruno was killed, according to the Patruno incident report. The Denogean incident report does not mention a gun being recovered, though it states that at the scene, investigators located 11 nine-millimeter casings, one nine-millimeter cartridge and one "apparent projectile," all of which suggest the use of a 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 representative 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 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.