After a weeklong trial, a Boulder County jury has found Jimmy West, 53, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Zaria Hardee, whose body was found in the Goss Grove neighborhood in July 2024. He was found not guilty of related sex-trafficking charges.
West was sentenced to 96 years in the Department of Corrections, followed by five years of mandatory parole. He was arrested in connection with Hardee’s murder on Jan. 30 and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The prosecution’s argument relied on physical evidence, witness statements and inconsistencies in West’s account.
“Jimmy West is the best evidence against Jimmy West,” Aileen Van Nice, chief trial deputy with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, argued during closing arguments last week. “Because everything he tells you is different from everybody else, but the pieces that he gives you that are true undermine everything else.”
West was the last known person to be with Hardee before her death. Investigators reported that Hardee’s body was found in West’s bike trailer, and that tent fabric, rope and tape used to wrap and bind Hardee’s body were identical to materials found in West’s camp. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation also found his DNA on the tent material.
West also described the outfit she was found in “nearly perfectly,” despite the fact that video surveillance showed her wearing something different on the last day she was seen alive.
According to a Boulder police affidavit, Hardee’s boyfriend, Nickolas Shepherd, told police he “sold” Hardee to West, likely for drugs. On July 10, the last day Hardee was seen alive, she was escorted by her friend, Karrine “Kiki” Willis, to West’s camp just north of 17th Street. West told police he had “a little bit of sex” with Hardee after she was taken to his camp.
Hardee’s body was found on July 14, with her mouth taped and a motorcycle cover wrapped around her head. She likely died of blunt force head injuries and asphyxiation.
Although West was charged with first-degree murder and human trafficking, the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder. First-degree murder generally requires either premeditation or knowingly creating a “grave risk of death” to other people, under circumstances that demonstrate an “extreme indifference to the value of human life generally.”
West’s defense argued that the murder could have instead been committed by Willis, who was with her in the days before her death. Defense attorneys argued that while physical evidence connected the murder to West’s camp, it did not definitively link it to West himself, emphasizing that they only needed to introduce reasonable doubt in the jury’s mind to avoid a conviction.
“Every piece of evidence taken from Jimmy West’s camp can point to Kiki just as much as it can point to Jimmy West,” said defense attorney John Wetli.
Van Nice argued that the defense failed to offer a good explanation for why she would have all of West’s belongings that were found with the body.
“If you allow the evidence to lead you to the conclusion, then there’s no question about who committed this particular offense,” she said.
Police and prosecutors said that the case was difficult to work because of difficulties contacting witnesses who were homeless and the decay of the body and other physical evidence, but were satisfied with the outcome.
“This was a horrific murder and it was a challenging investigation to work — let alone arrest a suspect — based upon the involved individuals, and difficult scene,” Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said in a statement.
“Ms. Hardee died far too young; the murder and disposal of her body was horrific. Now, the defendant will face the consequences for his actions,” District Attorney Michael Dougherty added in a statement. “We truly appreciate the service of all the jurors, especially during the holiday season.”
Hardee is mourned by her family. “Zaria was a loved 19-year-old girl and child, sister, granddaughter,” her grandmother Karma Haar wrote in a GoFundMe. “A person who was adventurous and a little bit crazy in her special way. No parents should have to bury their child.”
James Evans, known as Radagast, called Hardee “kind, resourceful and fiercely independent,” during a 2024 memorial for people who passed away in Boulder while experiencing homelessness.
“Despite the challenges she faced, she had a light about her. Zaria had a way of making you feel seen, even when the world seemed determined to ignore her,” he said.