Boulder police have arrested a suspect in the murder of 19-year-old Zaria Hardee, whose body was found wrapped in a tent on a bike trailer in the Goss Grove neighborhood last summer, the department announced on Jan. 30.
Officials identified the suspect as Jimmy West, 52, who is being held without bail in the Boulder County Jail, according to the arrest affidavit. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
Police arrested West on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Civic Park, according to Boulder Chief of Police Steve Redfearn.
“Zaria should be here today. It’s entirely unacceptable that this young woman lived and ultimately died on our streets,” Redfearn said during a press conference on Jan. 30.
Hardee was experiencing homelessness at the time of her death. Officials believe she was also the victim of sex trafficking.
“Something must change,” Redfearn said. “We must have better resources, treatment and intervention options, so our most vulnerable populations are not able to be victimized.”
Hardee was one of 47 people honored in a December memorial for those who died while living outside in Boulder.
Hardee “had a light about her,” James Evans, known as Radagast, said during the memorial. “She was kind, resourceful and fiercely independent.”
The Boulder County Coroner has not publicly released the autopsy report into Hardee’s death. Officials said she likely died from blunt force trauma to the head and probable asphyxia, according to the arrest affidavit.
“She was 19 years old. Nineteen. And she was living unhoused in our community,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at the press conference. “I recognize that homelessness is a complex issue, but I think every single person would agree that a 19-year-old should be living somewhere at home, with support, and not being subjected to the violence that ended her life far too soon. It is a tragedy.”
Dougherty spoke about the case as part of a larger issue the state faces with mental health and substance use, noting that Colorado ranks in the bottom 10 nationally for the availability of treatment.
“Those failures, those flaws in our behavioral health systems and services, end up all too often flowing into the justice system,” he said. He said the “very sad reality” was that serious crimes like murder and assault committed by unhoused people often have unhoused victims.
Redfearn said Boulder police have worked to build a trusting relationship between officers and homeless people, including assigning specific officers to be liaisons with the community. In this case, “we did have a decent amount of information in this case that we received from talking to people out on the street,” he said.
Police identified the suspect based on physical evidence, witness statements and inconsistencies in his account, according to the arrest affidavit. He was the last known person to be with Hardee before her death, and investigators linked materials from his camp — including tent fabric, rope and tape — to those used to wrap and bind her body.
“Some in our community have asked why it took us so long to make this arrest,” Detective Commander Brannon Winn said during the news conference. “This has been a challenging case from the start, both because of the nature of the physical evidence and the efforts involved in finding unhoused members of our community that she spent time with.”
Officials said the investigation remains ongoing and asked anyone with information to contact the Boulder Police Department’s tip line at 303-441-1974. Hardee’s family has set up a GoFundMe to cover travel and other costs associated with the court proceedings.
According to the arrest affidavit provided by Detective Scott Byars, on July 10, the last day Hardee was seen alive, she was escorted by another homeless person, Karrine Willis, to West’s camp just north of 17th Street. Hardee’s boyfriend, Nickolas Shepherd, 24, who was arrested this month for menacing and whose relationship with Hardee was marked by domestic violence, told police he “sold” Hardee to West, likely for drugs. West, who is 52, told police he had sex with Hardee after she was taken to his camp.
Hardee likely died of blunt force head injuries and asphyxiation after her mouth was taped and a motorcycle cover was wrapped around her head. Her body was left on a bike trailer along a path in the Goss Grove neighborhood. Residents told police that homeless people often left items in the area, so the trailer did not raise suspicion until it began to smell. Her body was discovered on July 14 by a resident who was taking her trash out.
By retracing Hardee’s steps, police found their way to West, who admitted the bike trailer Hardee was found in was his. He described the outfit she was found in “nearly perfectly,” despite the fact that video surveillance showed her wearing something different earlier on the last day she was seen alive. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation found West’s DNA on the tent material Hardee’s body was found in. And both the tent material and the rope her body was bound with also matched tent material and rope in West’s camp.
According to his state license, West is 6’3 and weighs 250 pounds. At the time of autopsy, Hardee was 4’11 and weighed 87 pounds.
Redfearn said the police did their best to keep tabs on West, who was in and out of police custody during the investigation, while they built their case.
Dougherty acknowledged homelessness and mental health are multifaceted issues. “I don’t pretend to be an expert,” he said. “But I’ll tell you one thing: We can’t simply ignore it.”