Homeless Man Who Admitted To Brutally Stabbing College Golf Star To Death Sorry For ‘Stripping A Life From Society’

A man who admitted stabbing an Iowa State University golfer to death, leaving a trial of blood along a golf course fairway in Ames, sent a handwritten note to a judge apologizing for “stripping a life from society.”

“I want to show remorse for stripping a life from society,” Collin Richards said in the note sent to Story County Judge Bethany Currie, according to The Des Moines Register. “I want the family and you to know I’m sorry.”

Richards pleaded guilty to killing college golf star Barquin Arozamena, 22, in June and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month for the murder. He is facing a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for the September 2018 slaying, according to local station WHO-TV.

In the brief note, Richards also writes that “change” is now his mission and new life goal.

“I will use all resources and steps,” he wrote. “If there is anything I can do, I will.”

Arozamena, a native of Spain, was killed the morning of Sept. 17 while golfing alone at the Coldwater Golf Links, according to The Des Moines Register. Her body was later discovered with stab wounds to her upper torso, head, neck and left leg, the paper reported. 

Celia Barquin Arozamena Photo: Associated Press

The day before the murder Richards reportedly told another man he had “an urge to rape and kill a woman.” He had been staying a homeless camp near the golf course at the time of the attack.

Detectives said witnesses later reported that after committing the crime he arrived at the home of an acquaintance looking disheveled and covered in blood. He took a shower at the home and left with his blood-stained clothes in a backpack.

Officers also later recovered three knives they believed belong to Richards, who has a history of mental illness and drug addiction.

Arozamena had a promising future ahead of her as a golfer and had been named Iowa State’s female athlete of the year in 2018.