Slaying of golfer shocks Iowa college town
AMES, Iowa—A star collegiate golfer from Spain was attacked and killed by a homeless stranger while she was playing a round alone near her campus in Iowa, police said Tuesday.
Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was working toward joining the pro tour while finishing her degree at Iowa State University, was stabbed by the assailant Monday morning and left dead in a pond on the golf course, police said. Her body was found after fellow players saw her abandoned golf bag.
Collin Daniel Richards, a 22-yearold with a history of violence, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Investigators said Richards had told an acquaintance he had “an urge to rape and kill a woman” and that he was living in a homeless encampment near the golf course in Ames, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Des Moines.
Police said they recovered a knife and bloody clothing linked to Richards, who completed a prison sentence in June and has prior convictions for burglary and harassment.
Barquin was remembered as one of Iowa State’s most accomplished golfers and a bright engineering student. This year, she won the Big 12 championship and an amateur tournament in Europe and competed in the U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
“Losing one of our student-athletes is like losing a child,” Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard said, choking back tears at a news conference. “We’re all devastated and heartbroken.”
Pollard said Barquin had “broke down in tears” when she found out she had been named the school’s 2018 female athlete of the year—an achievement she had been set to be honored for during Saturday’s football game. Instead, the team will wear helmet decals with Barquin’s initials to honor her.
Ames Police Cmdr. Geoff Huff said homicides are rare in the city, and it’s “very troubling for something like this to happen in broad daylight.”
It’s the second fatal stabbing of a female college student in Iowa in recent months. An immigrant from Mexico is charged in the July slaying of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, who vanished while out for a run in the town of Brooklyn.
Police were called to Coldwater Golf Links around 10:20 a.m. Monday to investigate a possible missing player after golfers found her bag and no one around it. Officers found Barquin’s body with several stab wounds to her upper torso, head and neck, according to the complaint filed Tuesday against Richards.
A police dog tracked Barquin’s scent to a homeless encampment near the course where Richards had been living in a tent, the complaint said. Officers found Richards with several scratches on his face consistent with fighting and a deep laceration in his left hand.