Spanish Golfer Celia Barquín Killed In Iowa

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The sports world mourns the death of the Spanish Celia Barquín Arozamena, a young promise of golf who was assassinated on Monday. She was 22 years old.

Originally from Puente San Miguel in Spain, Barquín was finishing her civil engineering career this semester at Iowa State University. Barquín was a leading student athlete and won the European Amateur Ladies Championship in July.

The young woman's body was found a short distance from a golf bag found unattended on the Cold Toilet Golf Links course in Ames, Iowa early Monday morning. Police later determined that Barquín died after being the victim of an assault.

According to the police, Barquin was found in a pond with "several stab wounds in the upper part of the torso, head and neck."

During her time in the United States, Barquín rose to fame as a young golfer and was named Female Athlete of the Year at her university. She also participated in the Youth Olympic Games in China.

Collin Daniel Richards, also 22, has been charged with his murder, according to police. At a court conference on Tuesday, authorities said the suspect is believed to be homeless, and that the crime was "a random act of violence," said County Attorney Jessica Reynolds.

"The state believes it is a flight risk, it also believes it is a danger to the community," he said, according to the Des Moines Register newspaper.

Richards made his first court appearance on Tuesday. According to local media, he had been charged with various crimes in the past, including trespassing, public intoxication, and intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

A spokesman for Iowa State University said Richards is not a student and has never registered there.

"Right now we are devastated, the whole family trying to assimilate everything that has happened and we ask for a little privacy to cope with these days that have been quite hard," Celia's brother, Adrés Barquín, told ABC.