Michael Rozboril’s nomadic lifestyle ended in Lubbock after the birth of his son.
He grew up in Florida and lived and worked for many years between Colorado, Florida and Michigan as an adult.
According to his obituary, he worked in business management, audio, video and graphic design, mechanical and electrical work, motorcycle stunting, and carpentry and construction.
In the summer of 2016, he moved to Lubbock after he started dating Cindy Castilleja. Two years later their son was born.
Around the time Rozboril moved to Lubbock, 23-year-old Maria Rodriguez, who was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for Rozboril’s death in 2022started her own nomadic lifestyle.
At age 15, she ran away from her foster mother’s abusive boyfriend and began staying with friends and stealing to survive.
A deadly encounter in downtown Lubbock
Rozboril and Rodriguez’s paths would cross on July 8, 2022, when Rodriguez entered Lluvia’s Imports in the 2400 block of 34th Street, where Rozboril worked. She stole approximately $50 worth of laundry supplies.
As Rodriguez attempted to leave in a white Cadillac Escalade, Rozboril jumped on the hood of the vehicle to stop her.
However, Rodriguez continued driving until she reached the intersection of 35th Street and Avenue X, where Rozboril was thrown from the SUV and fell to the ground, hitting his head. He died on the spot.
Dr. Stacey Murthy, a forensic pathologist, told jurors that the fall likely fractured Rozboril’s skull, causing a brain hemorrhage.
Rodriguez would be identified as the shoplifter shortly after investigators found video from nearby security cameras that showed her driving away from the store with Rozboril on the hood of the vehicle.
A trial in Lubbock District Court
Rodriguez, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since July 10, 2022, was initially charged with murder.
However, prosecutors presented an aggravated theft charge to grand jurors two weeks before her trial in the 140th District Court, which began Monday, Oct. 21.
Aggravated robbery carries the same penalty as murder: five years to life in prison.
Rodriguez did not testify at the trial, but jurors watched the 52-minute video of her interview with detectives.
In the video, Rodriguez admitted to stealing the items and said she went to the store intending to buy the laundry supplies but decided to steal the items instead.
“I had money in my pocket,” she said.
She told investigators she did not recognize Rozboril, who had worked at the store for more than a year, as an employee.
However, she told investigators that she offered to pay for the stolen merchandise, but Rozboril told her, “I don’t want your (expletive) money,” and began hitting the windshield with what she initially thought was a knife.
A responding police officer told jurors that Rozboril had a flashlight in his hands when he was found at the scene.
Jurors were shown photos of the Escalade’s windshield, which showed a handful of spider web cracks.
The video shows Rozboril hitting the vehicle’s windshield as it reverses and moves forward.
Rodriguez was heard telling investigators that she did not drive away or stop to force Rozboril out of her vehicle.
She said she continued to drive away after Rozboril fell from her car.
“I haven’t looked back,” she said.
During closing arguments, Rodriguez’s attorney, Chris Wanner, told jurors that his client’s intention in driving away was not to get away with the stolen items, which is part of the wording of the charges against her. Instead, he said it was out of fear of Rozboril’s actions.
“In that case, fight or flight intervened,” he said. “Maria chose flight and Mr. Rozboril chose fight.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that based on Rodriguez’s statements to police, she knew driving with Rozboril on the hood of her car was dangerous, but did it anyway.
“If she doesn’t know it’s dangerous, if she doesn’t know that riding on the hood of a car is an act dangerous to human life, why is she so adamant about not breaking or not going ‘super fast’ ??,” said prosecutor Laura Beth Fossett “Because she knows the act is dangerous.”
Fossett told jurors that despite store policy, Rozboril was legally justified in stopping Rodriguez from stealing that day.
She said investigators never found a phone on Rozboril’s body, indicating he had no way to call police to report the robbery. Instead, he probably thought he should hold her and then call the police.
She said when Rodriguez drove away, Rozboril was stuck on the hood of that car, holding on for dear life.
“(Rozboril) jumping on the hood of the car is not the cause of his death,” Fossett told jurors. “The cause of his death is that at that moment she made the decision: ‘I stole these products, I have to get out of that situation.’”
“Are there no other options than driving away with a person on the hood of your car when you know that’s scary, that’s dangerous,” she said.
Jurors deliberated for about five hours — at one point telling the court they were at an impasse — before returning with a verdict convicting Rodriguez of aggravated robbery.
A father’s life was cut short
During the penalty phase of the trial, jurors learned the heartbreaking reason for Rozboril’s actions that day.
Although the couple’s relationship ended a year after their son’s birth, Castilleja said Rozboril remained in Lubbock for their child.
She said fatherhood gave Rozboril purpose and he wanted to pass on his knowledge to his son.
“The joy he got from being a father; it was very beautiful to see,” Castilleja said. “A lot of people don’t have that connection.”
Rozboril’s sister, Lindsay LeBlanc, told jurors she had never seen her brother happier than when he was with his son.
Castilleja said that although Rozboril was not court ordered to pay child support, he did contribute financially to raising their son.
“He wanted to be with his son, he wanted to be the type of parent that everyone wants for their child,” she said. “He stood up for what was right, even when it wasn’t easy.”
However, sometimes she said his salary would not be enough to help with their child because his employers would deduct the cost of stolen items from his wages.
“Anything that was lost, stuff that was taken, they would take it off him,” Castilleja said.
Fossett said after the trial that Rozboril was likely driven to stop Rodriguez because her actions meant he would lose money for his son.
“That definitely played a role in Mr. Rozboril’s decision to jump on the hood of that car,” she said.
Rodriguez, who had a previous conviction for unauthorized use of a vehicle, was not eligible for probation and faced a prison sentence of five years to life.
Fossett did not ask jurors to send Rodriguez for a certain number of years.
Instead, she asked jurors to think of Rozboril’s son when deciding on Rodriguez’s sentence.
“When he gets older and understands the gravity of how his father left this world, when you look (the boy) in the eyes and this is the punishment that we, the jury, gave to the woman your father took from you taken away,” she said.
Castilleja told jurors that her son, a smart, energetic boy, still asks about his father.
“He wants to carve pumpkins with him, he wants to do Halloween things,” she said.
She says her son sees his classmates being picked up by their father, or hears them talking about the time they spent with their father.
“He knows he’s different,” she said. “He won’t experience that again, because he no longer has his father.”
Rodriguez’s attorney, Haley Hickey, asked jurors to take into account her client’s rough childhood. She said she was remorseful and asked for a five-year prison sentence.
“It weighs on her that someone else has to grow up without a father,” she said.
Jurors deliberated for about an hour before returning to the courtroom with a 10-year prison sentence.
After the verdict was announced, Castilleja stood before Rodriguez and asked her to spend her time in prison to improve her life and make a positive impact.
“That’s the only way I think you’ll be whole within yourself,” she said.