AURORA, CO – A 47-year-old man will spend two decades behind bars after admitting he deliberately tried to run over two women with his car because he thought they were lesbians, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Vitalie Oprea pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder on Monday and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the February 2023 attack near a high school in this Denver suburb.
The brutal incident unfolded on February 19, 2023, when Oprea spotted two women standing on a street corner near East Arapahoe Road and South Liverpool Street. According to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, he began yelling at them and making obscene gestures before making a U-turn to drive directly at them.
The terrified women fled into a grassy area near Grandview High School, but Oprea wasn’t deterred. He jumped a curb and drove across the sidewalk and grass in pursuit, court documents show.
When the women managed to get inside a pickup truck, Oprea rammed his vehicle into theirs. He then got out and tried to physically drag one of the women from the truck before fleeing the scene.
His motive was chillingly simple. While in police custody later that day after being arrested in Arvada, Oprea confessed: “I drove at the women because I saw them kissing and they were lesbians and I wanted to kill them.”
The plea deal eliminated 10 other felony charges against Oprea, including a second count of attempted murder, six counts of attempted first-degree assault, two motor vehicle theft counts, and one criminal mischief count. Seven misdemeanor charges and multiple sentence enhancers were also dropped.
Neither victim suffered life-threatening physical injuries in the attack, though the psychological trauma of being hunted by a stranger remains.
