PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ — "We were 19. We grew up together. The plan was to grow old together,” said Kymberli Lopez as she remembered more than three decades of a sweetheart kind of love.
"It was not uncommon to see us dancing, even in our own home. Just turn on music and just be together and just dance,” Lopez said with a smile.
The morning of June 28, 2022, was like any other day for Lopez, except she didn’t realize she would be kissing her husband goodbye for work for the last time.
Lopez says she was on the grounds, getting ready to have the Yavapai County Rodeo when her life changed in a minute.
She got the call her "sweetheart" was in jeopardy.
Yavapai County Sergeant Rick ‘RLO’ Lopez was on surveillance duty for a search warrant in a Cordes Lakes neighborhood that day.
Court documents reveal at some point, 61-year-old Robert McDowell chased after Sgt. Lopez, eventually shooting him.
Neighbors called 911 after witnessing Sgt. Lopez lying unresponsive. He was airlifted to a Valley hospital and went into surgery, but never made it out.
Today, his name now joins an engraved placard of fallen Yavapai County officers, which Kymberli Lopez reads aloud: “It says, Rick 'Arlo' Lopez. Yavapai County Sherriff's Office, June 28th, 2022, which was his End of Watch."
His legacy is remembered in moments.
Lopez said, “Usually it's smells. He had his own closet, so his closet still smells like him."
Now, there are new memorials being built in his honor.
The Town of Prescott Valley is building a park and all additional funds will go toward the 'Play It Forward' program so all children can play a sport at no cost.
"No parent should ever feel like that they can't afford to send their kids somewhere,” Lopez said. “That's truly what Rick would have ever wanted."
Lopez keeps her sweetheart close by, wearing his wedding ring every day and staying true to their oath.
"We had five-year plans. We had 10-year plans. I'm just going to continue on with that,” Lopez said as she teared up. “Get there one day at a time."
"When we took our vows we made a promise until death do us part,” Lopez said. “Rick actually kept that promise. I just thought we would be old.”
As for the man accused of shooting and killing Sgt. Lopez, McDowell has been in court several times with the prosecution now suggesting the death penalty.
