BIG 12 Champion Golfer found dead on a public golf course in Iowa

By Angel Salcedo 9/19/18

Four months removed from her BIG 12 Championship win, a 22-year-old college golf champion from Iowa State was found murdered on a public golf course. Celia Barquin Arozamena was found dead on Coldwater Links in Ames on September 17th.

Police arrested Collin Daniel Richards and charged him with first degree murder. Richards has no known address and court documents show he was kicked out of his grandparents’ house last year. Those documents also claim Richards had made statements to a friend about “having an urge to rape and kill a woman.”  The district attorney is calling the murder a “random act of violence”.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Police were called to the course after golfers reported finding a cell phone, hat and golf cap scattered on the fairway of ninth hole. Barquin Arozamena’s body was discovered soon after in a pond not far from where her belongings were found. Police say she had “several stab wounds to the upper torso, head, and neck”.

Police later tracked the suspect to a homeless encampment on the banks of  Squaw Creek in the wooded area adjacent to the golf course. Local officials said Richards suffered “several fresh scratches on his face consistent with fighting.”

Barquin Arozamena is a native of Reocin, Spain. Her hometown had declared three days of mourning in her honor. She had just turned pro after a breakout season at ISU and was set for a career on the professional tour after qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year.

Richards is being held on $5-million-dollars bail, he will be back in court on September 28th. Funeral arrangements for Barquin Arozamenas’ are pending.