FAIRPLAY, Colo.—A camper arrested after a graduate student was strangled in a remote part of forest was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder and other charges.
The 44-year-old suspect has used the names Robert R. Amos, Dennis Cook and Dennis L. Cook. He faced 10 counts including second-degree kidnapping and possession of a weapon by a previous offender. He also faced three counts each of committing a crime of violence and being a habitual criminal, both of which could enhance his sentence if he is convicted.
A phone message to his attorney, public defender Patrick Murphy, was not immediately returned.
Colorado Geologic Survey intern Alyssa Heberton-Morimoto, 24, was found June 26 in an isolated part of the San Isabel National Forest. Park County sheriff’s officials said it did not appear Heberton-Morimoto was sexually assaulted.
She had been working there on a mapping project with Karen Houck, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, where Heberton-Morimoto was a graduate student in environmental sciences.
The two split up, with Heberton-Morimoto driving to the end of a forest road and Houck deciding to hike there, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. About 20 minutes after Heberton-Morimoto radioed to say she had spoken to a camper about parking the vehicle, Houck heard her saying, “Karen, help, help, help,” over the radio, the document said. Houck then heard Heberton-Morimoto screaming over the radio.
Sheriff’s officials said GPS on the radio indicated the transmission came from near their vehicle, which was parked about 30 yards from Amos’ campsite.
Houck used the GPS coordinates to try to find Heberton-Morimoto, and unwittingly took a ride from the suspect to find help, the affidavit indicated.
Searchers later found Heberton-Morimoto’s body, partially covered by tree branches in a shallow creek, with a strap around her neck, according to the affidavit.
There were what appeared to be “drag marks” from the suspect’s campsite toward the creek, the affidavit said.
Amos’ criminal history includes a second-degree murder conviction in Kansas in 1982. He was transferred to a Colorado prison later after agreeing to testify against a co-defendant and was paroled in 2000.
In 1992, he was segregated from the general population at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex after he was accused of igniting a fire in a prison cell with two inmates locked inside, corrections officials said.
In 1994, he was convicted of second-degree assault for striking and biting officers at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City.
Amos remained jailed Monday on $800,000 bail. A motions hearing was scheduled for July 23.
