An Iowa man facing charges related to the stabbing death last year of a rising golf star and civil engineering student at Iowa State University has reportedly addressed the crime in a handwritten letter to the court this week.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Collin Richards initially pleaded not guilty to murder after he was arrested in the aftermath of Celia Barquin Arozamena’s homicide.
Reports this week signal that Richards is now willing to confess to the crime, according to Fox News.
Richards, described as a homeless man at the time of the September murder, reportedly wrote his revelation in a letter addressed to the court.
“I would like to take care of my case, I would like to do whatever it is to move forward ending the case ple [sic] of guilty if it takes that thank you & sorry,” he wrote. “I do plead guilty.”
Investigators previously reported that a Facebook profile believed to have been operated by Richards included an update captioned, “Let’s go commit a murder.”
He also allegedly told a man living at the same homeless camp as him that he had “an urge to rape and kill a woman” just one day before the victim’s death.
Arozamena, who had recently been selected Iowa State’s female athlete of the year and won the 2018 Big 12 Conference women’s golf championship, was found dead on the Coldwater Golf Links property on the morning of September 17.
In a statement this week, Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said Richards had not yet been involved in any plea discussions and that her office was not prepared to offer him any deals short of a guilty plea to first-degree murder charges, as reported by the Des Moines Register.
Court records show he is expected to go to trial in September and remained behind bars at Story County Jail with cash bond set at $5 million. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of the charges against him.
[Featured images: Collin Richards, Story County Jail/ Celia Barquin Arozamena, handout]
