Acclaimed Spanish Golfer Murdered on Iowa Course

A 22-year-old golfer headed for the height of her sport was instead murdered on the course. Wrapping up a civil engineering degree at Iowa State University, where she'd been named female athlete of the year, Spain's Celia Barquín Arozamena was found dead a short distance from her unattended golf bag on the Coldwater Golf Links in Ames around 10:30am Monday, reports the BBC. After determining Barquín was assaulted, police by evening had charged 22-year-old Collin Daniel Richards of no known address with first-degree murder, per a release. Details weren't provided, though WOI-TV reports Richards has a history of arrests for intimidation with a dangerous weapon, trespassing, and public intoxication dating back to 2015.

"This is a tragic and senseless loss of a talented young woman and an acclaimed student athlete," Iowa State president Wendy Wintersteen says, per ESPN. "She was a player who was heading for the very top, without a doubt," adds the technical director of the Spanish Golf Federation, per the BBC. Ranked 69th in the country by Golfweek, Barquín had secured an invite to next year's Women's British Open with a victory at the European Ladies' Amateur championship in July. Considered one of the most accomplished players in Iowa State golf history, the Puente San Miguel native also became the Big 12 women's golf champion and only the third Iowa State women's golfer to compete in the US Women's Open earlier this year, per the Independent. (More murder stories.)