When Celia Barquin Arozamena first came to Iowa State University as a freshman, the star golfer from Spain "knew very little English and had a hard time finding her classes," according to a video about her produced by Iowa State Athletics and posted on Facebook five months ago. Quickly though, Barquin Arozamena made a name for herself not only as one of Iowa State's most decorated athletes, but also as an achieved academic. Barquin Arozamena, the 2018 Big 12 Conference champion and Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year, was found dead Monday morning at Coldwater Links golf course, authorities said. The civil engineering student was assaulted before she died, police said. Collin Daniel Richards, 22, who authorities said has no known address, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 22-year-old golfer, Ames police said late Monday night. Police said he was homeless and lived in a wooded area. Barquin Arozamena was recruited by Iowa State University to play on the women's golf team, starting four years ago. However, she started her first semester a month late in September because she had competed in the Junior Olympic Games. An assistant coach picked her up at the airport and handed her all of her supplies. "No orientation, no first or second week of classes," Barquin Arozamena said in the video. "Our assistant coach at the time, she picked me up from the airport and just drove me here and she's like, 'This is your schedule, this is practice, this is your student ID." The next day, Barquin Arozamena didn't make it to classes because she couldn't find them. "... lots of people looked weird at me because they don't understand me," she said. Quickly though, a teammate helped guide her to her classes. They joked that if she hadn't helped, Barquin Arozamena would sit in her dormitory room alone. Throughout her Iowa State career, Barquin Arozamena impressed many around her. During her freshman year, she shot a career-worst 86 at the Dallas Athletic Club. But as a senior, she returned and won the 2018 Big 12 tournament by three strokes with 69. FOLLOW THE REGISTER on FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE Download our app for your smartphone and tablet. iPhone | Android Despite the windy conditions that day, Barquin Arozamena was excited to play. "When I started practicing, I noticed it was super windy, she said in the video. "I'm a really good wind player. I texted my family right before I was playing and said, 'Mom, it's super windy, it's great.'" Her coach praised her for not only her athletic ability, but her academic prowess and dedication. "She's in an incredibly difficult major, but somehow still finds a way to be ready for practice, to be ready for every tournament," Iowa State women's golf coach Christie Martens said in the video. "There's never this, 'Oh, I have so much to do.' She always finds a way." "When we ask her to do something, she does it and more," Martens said in the video. "It's always, 'Yup, I'll do it-plus.'" Barquin Arozamena knew every "nook and cranny" of the Coldwater Links golf course, said John Walters, director of broadcasting, in the video. They filmed her golfing on that course and said she went there "countless times." She had the top career stroke average in Iowa State history and garnered 16 top-10 finishes against "challenging fields," according to the video. She was a three-time first-team academic All-Big 12 performer.<doc-sep>The man accused of killing an Iowa State University golf star Monday will remain in jail on a $5 million cash bond, a judge said Tuesday morning. The victim, Celia Barquin Arozamena, suffered "several stab wounds to the upper torso, head and neck," Ames police said in a criminal complaint. Collin Daniel Richards is charged with first-degree murder in Barquin Arozamena's death. He made his initial appearance at the Story County Courthouse in Nevada at 9 a.m. Tuesday. It lasted only minutes. At the appearance, Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said authorities believe Richards to be homeless and said the crime is believed to be "a random act of violence." "The state believes him to be a flight risk, also believes him to be a danger to the community," she said. The judge granted Reynolds' bond request. If convicted of first-degree murder, Richards will face life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge set Richards' preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. on Sept. 28. An Ames police complaint says officers responded to the Coldwater Golf Links at 10:24 a.m. for a report of a possible missing woman. At 11:03 a.m. officers were informed that a body, identified as Barquin Arozamena, had been found in a pond near where her belongings were found. Police said they determined on scene that Barquin Arozamena suffered “several stab wounds to the upper torso, head and neck.” At 1:35 p.m., police were searching the area when they saw a man, who is an acquaintance of Richards and is not named in the complaint, leaving the golf course and a nearby walking trail, the complaint states. When police first spoke to him, the man made a comment to the effect of “What did he do to her?” the complaint states. In a later interview with police, the man identified Richards as an acquaintance who had recently stayed in the same area where the man was temporarily living. The man said when he and Richards were walking on a trail near the golf course in the last few days, Richards “had made a statement to the effect of having an urge to rape and kill a woman,” according to the complaint. Police said the temporary residence where Richards and the man were staying consists of two tents near the dead end in the 600 block of South Maple Avenue, near the north bank of Squaw Creek, across from the golf course. FOLLOW THE REGISTER on FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE Download our app for your smartphone and tablet: iPhone | Android While officers were in the area, Richards approached them and police saw Richards "had several fresh scratches on his face consistent with fighting," the complaint states. Police said he also appeared to be trying to conceal a deep laceration on his left hand. In an interview with police at the Ames police station, Richards said he had stayed with another man that day, according to the complaint. Officers said they found that man at his home, which was near the golf course and camp. The second man told police Richards arrived at his home "and had appeared disheveled and covered in blood, sand and water." The man said Richards bathed at his home and left with his clothes in a black backpack, the complaint states. While searching the backpack, police found two pairs of shorts that tested positive for the presence of blood, the complaint states. Police also found a knife which they said had been in Richards' possession before he gave it to two other witnesses. Those two witnesses, none of whom are named in the complaint, were driving Richards to Jefferson before he asked them to return to the camp so he could get his tent, police said. When they saw a large police presence near the tent, the witnesses told Richards they couldn't drop him off there, police said. A short time later he was found by officers on foot. Richards was not a student at Iowa State, and had never registered for classes there, according to a spokeswoman from the school. Barquin Arozamena, the 2018 Big 12 champion and Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year, was found dead Monday morning at the Coldwater Links golf course, authorities said. The civil engineering student was assaulted before she died, police said. More: Earlier in the day, Ames Police Cmdr. Geoff Huff released few details during a news conference at City Hall, declining to comment on where the body was found or what injuries the golfer suffered. He called on the public to contact police if they saw anything suspicious. "The public should be very wary right now," Huff told reporters. "Right now, all leads are important." Richards was booked early Tuesday morning in the Story County Jail, where he was held with no bond. He did not yet have an attorney who could be reached for comment. In a news release, Iowa State head women's golf coach Christie Martens called Barquin Arozamena a "beautiful person who was loved by all her teammates and friends."<doc-sep>The family of an Iowa State University golf star is struggling to cope with her murder as people in her Spanish hometown pay tribute to the gifted athlete. Women have been crying in the streets of Puente San Miguel in remembrance of Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was found dead Monday at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, Iowa. Flags in the small Spanish town flew at half-staff in her memory. “We are all together, trying to put ourselves together,” her heartbroken brother, Andres, told CBS. Arozamena, 22, was the reigning Big 12 champion and Iowa State’s Female Athlete of the Year for 2018. The school is planning to celebrate her life with a memorial at a football game Saturday. Her coach, Christie Martens, said she had a “great light about her.” “Our team has been sharing a lot of great memories,” Martens told Iowa State Daily. “She brought flowers for every single one of her teammates on Valentine’s Day if they didn’t have a Valentine.” Arozamena’s death also touched Spanish pro golfer Sergio Garcia, who shared his condolences on Twitter. “Heartbroken over what happened to #CeliaBarquinArozamena. I had the pleasure of meeting her and I know she was a special person,” he wrote. “Sending my thoughts and prayers to her family and loved ones in this difficult time.” A homeless drifter, Collin Daniel Richards, 22, is being held in lieu of $5 million bail for the murder. Richards was arrested after a police dog traced the victim’s scent to a nearby homeless encampment, police said. Richards had recently told a pal there that he had “an urge to rape and kill a woman,” according to a criminal complaint. Others near the camp told police that Richards had come back earlier that day, “disheveled and covered in blood, sand and water,” the complaint said. The drifter has a lengthy rap sheet filled with domestic-abuse, assault and weapons charges. He faces a life sentence if convicted of the murder.<doc-sep>
Police in the US have charged a man with first-degree murder after the body of a promising young Spanish golf champion was found on a course in Iowa. Celia Barquín Arozamena, 22, who won the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship in July was from Cantabria, northern Spain, and had been studying civil engineering at Iowa State University. Barquín’s body was discovered on Monday morning at Coldwater golf links in Ames after police were alerted to an abandoned golf bag on the course. Officers found Barqúin’s body in a pond some distance from the bag. According to the criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, she had been stabbed several times. “It’s still very troubling for something like this to happen in broad daylight in a community that is as safe as Ames is,” the local police commander, Geoff Huff, told a news conference. Police said that Collin Daniel Richards, 22, of no known address, had been charged with Barqúin’s murder. Richards was ordered to remain behind bars on Tuesday on a $5m cash bond after a brief court appearance by video from the county jail in Nevada, Iowa. Court documents show he has a history of being charged with violence offenses, including abusing a former girlfriend. News of the golfer’s death brought people out on to the streets in her home town of Reocín to pay their respects. The local council called a rally on Tuesday to hold a minute’s silence in her memory and said that three days’ mourning would be declared following “this vile act”. “We woke this morning to the awful news of the murder of our young neighbour Celia Barquín on a golf course in Iowa, where she was studying and training to be a golfer, a sport in which she had a bright future,” the council said in a statement. The mayor of Reocín, Pablo Diestro, said the area was struggling to come to terms with what had happened. “She was a really hard-working girl who was deeply loved by the whole town,” he told the Spanish sports site Marca.com. “It’s a tragedy. We can’t believe it.” The mayor said he had taught Barquín maths when she was younger. “She was a real example, a remarkable girl and an excellent student,” he said. “As a student, she always gave it her all and always had a smile on her face.” Tributes were also paid by staff at the US university, whose sports teams are known as the Iowa State Cyclones. “Celia had an infectious smile, a bubbly personality and anyone fortunate enough to know her was blessed,” said Jamie Pollard, director of athletics at Iowa State University. “Our Cyclones family mourns the tragic loss of Celia, a spectacular student-athlete and ISU ambassador.” Christie Martens, head women’s golf coach at the university, said everyone was devastated by what had happened. “Celia was a beautiful person who was loved by all her team-mates and friends. She loved Iowa state [university] and was an outstanding representative for our school. We will never forget her competitive drive to be the best and her passion for life.” Barquín’s victory in the European Ladies’ Amateur in Slovakia had secured her an invitation to next year’s Women’s British Open at Woburn. In August she advanced to stage two of the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament. She ended her university career (2015-18) with her fourth-straight NCAA regional appearance and earned All-Big 12 team honours for the third time (2015, 2016, 2018) – one of only two players in the school’s history to accomplish the feat. The Spanish golfer Azahara Muñoz posted a picture of herself and Barquín on Instagram with the message: “Waking up to the news that Celia won’t be around any more is heartbreaking. This world is so amazing and so freaking hard at the same time. All my thoughts and prayers to the family … can’t even imagine what they are going through right now. You’ll never be forgotten Celia … one day we’ll see each other again.” The Press Association contributed to this report