AMES, Iowa — A former Iowa State University golfer was found dead at a golf course Monday, and a man was charged with murder. Police said in a news release that 22-year-old Celia Barquin Arozamena was found dead Monday at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames and officers determined she had died after being assaulted.
They said 22-year-old Collin Daniel Richards was charged with first-degree murder. Additional details about the incident weren’t immediately available. Police said Richards has no known address.
CBS affiliate KCCI-TV reports that a conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty.
Police were called to the golf course around 10:20 a.m. Monday after golfers found a golf bag with no one around it. Officers found a body some distance from the bag.
Barquin Arozamena was the 2018 Big 12 champion and Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year. The university said the native of Puente San Miguel, Spain, was finishing her civil engineering degree this semester after exhausting her eligibility at Iowa State in 2017-2018.
She was one of the most accomplished players in Cyclone golf history, the university said. In April, she became the second women’s golfer at Iowa State to earn medalist honors at a conference tournament when claiming the 2018 Big 12 Championship. She did it with a three-shot victory.
Barquin Arozamena, who was ranked No. 69 nationally by Golfweek, ended her career as a Cyclone with a fourth-straight NCAA Regional appearance and earned All-Big 12 Team honors for the third time – the second player in Iowa State’s history to do so.
She became the third Cyclone women’s golfer to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open Championship, the university said.
Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen said in a statement on Twitter that she was “deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death” of Barquin Arozamena, describing her as a “dedicated civil engineering student” and an “acclaimed golfer with a bright future.”
Head women’s golf coach Christie Martens said in a release that Barquin Arozamena was “loved by all her teammates and friends” and was an “outstanding representative of our school.”
“We will never forget her competitive drive to be the best and her passion for life,” Martens said.
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